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“It's been a hard day's night, and I should be sleeping like a log” sang the Beatles in the 1960s.
Almost 50 years down the line, ‘sleeping like a log’ seems a forgotten dream for 78 per cent corporate sector employees, who are suffering from sleep disorders, says a survey.
“Due to demanding schedules and high stress levels, corporate employees are sleeping less than six hours a day,” says the survey by the Associated Chambers of Indian Industry (Assocham).
The problem is more common among women, who have to balance work and family. More than half the women employees said they frequently experienced sleep problems.
The survey covered 18 sectors and 200 employees in each city, with the maximum employees belonging to the IT and ITes sector (17 per cent).
Loss of sleep results in daytime fatigue, physical discomfort, psychological stress, performance deterioration, low-pain threshold, increased absenteeism among others, according to Mr D.S. Rawat, Secretary-General, Assocham.
Insomnia was most prevalent among younger employees in Delhi, followed by Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Hyderbad, Pune and Chennai, as more than half the respondents were between ages 20 and 29.
Asked about physical fitness, 47 per cent corporate employees said they ‘do not exercise’. Nearly 38 per cent took sick leave in the range of one-seven days. Absenteeism was mainly owing to acute diseases such as influenza, cold & flu, fever (including malaria, viral and dengue), severe headaches.
In a telling reflection of lifestyle imbalance, the survey found 36 per cent respondents obese, 21 per cent suffered from depression, 12 per cent had high blood pressure and 8 per cent were diabetic.
Stressing the need for wellness programmes in corporate workplaces, the Assocham survey observed that 42 per cent out of the top 500 Indian companies, ignore employee healthcare as they do not offer any wellness programme.
‘Taking up corporate wellness programmes will add to country’s national income up to $17.74 billion in 2014-15 through a reduction in absenteeism rate by 1 per cent,” Mr Rawat said.
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