Based on the above newspaper extract it is clearly stated that high health problems of IT employees occur due to sedentary work culture and “shift” type schedules. Due to this environment in most corporates, professionals are suffering from an irregular diet as said by doctors. The frequency and timings of meals have a direct impact on the body’s wellbeing, an irregular diet, eating patterns are the highlighted reasons for such health issues in almost 10% of IT professionals in Hyderabad. The night shifts pay a greater toll on employees, they gain weight, have metabolic syndromes and cardiovascular diseases.
Based on this brief introduction, do food habits get affected due to changing work environments? Researchers give some of the worst eating habits IT professionals resort to.
Meal Skipping – One of the most common habits of IT professionals is to skip meals due to changing shifts and duties. Over the past years, it was known that breakfast is the most important meal for the day, it gives us the energy to do our work but lunch is equally being considered especially for IT employees working straight for 8 hours. Most IT employees skip meals due to a sedentary work culture as they are too busy completing the targets. This tendency results in major health hazards amongst most professionals.
Overeating –Often with an increase in work stress, people often start developing stress eating at workplaces. Employees start to fetch packet foods, fast foods, etc. from shops or vending machines, and these results in heavy calorie intake and weight gain, hypertension, diabetes, and heart problems. There are cases where IT employees have strokes at workplaces too due to their unhealthy eating practices.
Excessive consumption of coffee or other beverages – Though most employees rely on coffee or tea as an important booster during work, however, these beverages cause bad health problems too like being fatigue, unhealthy addictions towards caffeine, heart problems, digestive issues (gastroesophageal reflux disease), urine frequency, etc. All these result in deteriorating health and pose as a slow poison for bodies.
Consumption of fast foods – Due to increasing workload and shift-based work environment, most IT professionals resort to readymade foods or street eating. Fast foods are readily available at every corner of a city, hence employees arrange a feasible and quick source of food. This habit turns into an addiction and the addiction turns into a health crisis.
Developing addictions at the workplace –Some employees forge unhealthy social life and suffer from addictions like drugs, alcohol, and other narcotic abuse this disrupts their food intake as they smoke instead of eating any solid food. Sometimes due to high-stress employees start resorting to ill practices and harm their health keeping their stomachs empty for long durations.
Eating too fast – Admit it, we do get late at work due to some reasons but harming our health by wolfing down meals is not a solution. Most IT professionals face this when they take up shifts based work, on arriving late they gulp down the last piece of their breakfast however this doesn’t give the brain time to catch up with the stomach and disequilibrium occurs. This tendency results in overeating at some point and the aftermath is obesity.
Not enough sleep –Due to late-night shifts some IT professionals fail to get the desired amount of sleep needed for an average individual hence they face weight gain issues, develop dark circles have fatigue stricken approach towards work, etc.
Heavy consumption of liquid calories – Sometimes there are colas and sugar-coated sodas at workplaces which employees mostly resort to, juices and some sweet beverages count huge caloric intake which destroys a healthy food intake for IT professionals. Professionals have to work for long hours or shifts as a result consume a lot of beverages to get energy for the rest of the day.
Unmindful eating – According to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it is clearly stated that people who ate meals without any distractions felt full just 30 minutes post-eating. This concept gets contradicted as IT professionals eat with their attention towards their work which makes them feel empty in less than an hour. This situation often results in overeating just to feel full resulting in weight gainand severe heart problems.
Eating late at night – There are also situations where employees return home late at night after long shifts and eat their dinner. The long lapse between meal times can infuse digestion problems, gastric issues, and obesity. Eating late takes in new calories which seldom get burnt and this caloric intake gets stored. Late eating causes sleep problems as well.
Fortunately, there are ways to bring down the bad food habits of IT professionals or employees at any other company having long working hours. When the unhealthy food habits reduce the employees can be active and healthier, which promises higher productivity for the company.
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