Disorders of Health in IT Professionals

 

Why health disorders in the IT professionals…?

·        Stress is high in software profession because of their nature of work, target, achievements, night shift, over work load.

·        Indian IT professionals are slowly but steadily getting into modern occupational disorders.

·        Stress at work has been linked with coronary heart disease and metabolic syndrome in retrospective and prospective studies.

·        The patho physiological mechanisms involve direct neuroendocrine effects and indirect effects mediated by adverse health behaviors.

 

·        The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors that increases the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

·        Characteristics of the metabolic syndrome are

Ø abdominal obesity,

Ø atherogenic dyslipidemia (raised triglycerides, small low-density lipoprotein particles, and low concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol),

Ø high blood pressure (BP),

Ø  insulin resistance (with or without glucose intolerance), and

Ø prothrombotic and proinflammatory states.

 

·        Studies have found a social gradient also involved in the work stress and the metabolic syndrome, suggesting a greater exposure to working stress among less advantaged social groups.

 

What are the Causative factors…?

Long Working Hours and After Office Work

·         In India average working hrs of 10hrs while in USA 7.5 hrs is reported.

·        Apart from these regular hours, 73 % subjects in India and 66 % subjects in USA have to work in office late night and on holidays once a month.

·        It is observed that prevalence of physical discomfort was higher among those who used computers for more than 8 hours/day.

 

Prolonged Sitting

·        The average time spent for rest breaks (coffee breaks and small exercises) by the subjects in India and USA is 18 minutes and 17.5 minutes respectively. The remaining time is spent sitting on the office chair.

·        According to one study back pain is one of the most common workrelated injuries and is often caused by ordinary work activities such as prolonged sitting in an office chair.

·        Tis study found a significant correlation between duration of work without a break and frequency of symptom occurrence.

 

Interaction with Visual Display Unit

·        The average hours spent on work on computers by professionals in India and USA are 8.2 hrs and 8.5 hrs (6 hrs in office and 2 .5 hrs at home) respectively.

·        Apart from this, 93% of professionalsin India and 100% professionals in USA spend about 1.5 hrs on weekdays and about 5 hrs on weekends on laptop or television for relaxation.

·        It was found that there was a gradual increase in visual complaints as the number of hours spent working on computers daily increased and the same relation was found to be true for musculoskeletal problems as well.

 

Lack of Adequate Exercise

·        The study shows that the average time spent on small exercise in office is just 6 minutes for Indian professionals and 7.5 minutes for onsite professionals. Only 40% in India do regular exercise at home.

·        None of theprofessionals use exercise and sports facility at office. According to another study 66% of them do not exercise adequately.

 

 

 

What are the major health disorders IT professionals face…?

·        Significant proportion of the computer professionals were having health problems like eye strain, headache, body ache, general fatigue etc.

·        Long working hours and constant use of visual display units are the major causes of such problems.

 

Other common health problems for IT workers in the long run are:

·        Thrombosis

·        Heart disease

·        Cancer

·        Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

·        Vitamin D deficiency

·        Bacterial infections

·        Anxiety, stress, and depression

·        Insomnia, sleep apnoea, etc.

 

The Health Issues Due to Poor Posture:

·        Back Pain or Low Backache –the lower portion of back pains. The problem becomes severe that you cannot bend forward. This is typically noticed when you get up from your seat after sitting for long hours. Body feels stiffened and you take a few minutes to get back into your flexible movement.

·        Poor posture leads to multiple health problems

 

·        Prevention: The posture does matter when it is sitting in front of the computer.

·        Try to sit erected and don’t bend forward to type or to see the monitor closely.

·        You can also put some support to fill the curve-gap to prevent such harm. Regular massage also helps.

 

Health Disorders Because of the Distance:

Computer Eye Strain

·        Eye strain, dark circles and redness –the eyes are most delicate part of our body. If you have less distance between eyes and the monitor, the rays coming from it will affect your eyes badly.

·        Computer Vision Syndrome or Dry Eye Syndrome –The eyes are red, itchy and constantly irritating. The simple reason is the screen, its radiation and resolution (the brightness and contrast). If the problem is severe, you see very small particles where you move the eyes. It’s actually in your eyes and not actually present. Use anti-glare lens/eyeglasses.

 

·        Prevention: Ideally, the distance should be 18-24 inches to keep your eyes healthy. No matter how great claims you hear from companies, radiation from the screen DOES affect your eyes.

·        Have enough lighting in the room, don’t operate computer in dark or poor light condition. The light should fall on the screen and not on your eyes. In other words, the light source should be behind you and not in front.

·        Keep blinking. Look at the objects or scenery that is at long distance every half an hour. Do palming (gently put your palms onto the eyes with a little pressure, concentrate in the center of the dark. Do this for 3-4 minutes).

 

Computer Related Health Problems Because of the Monitor Level:

Neck pain due to monitor level

·        Cervical Spondylitis (neck pain) –this happens due to improper level of the computer screen and your eyes. Constant looking low at the monitor will cause this problem as it’ll stiffen the muscles of the neck and make them rigid.

 

·        Prevention: Adjust the level of the computer monitor and maintain the viewing angle.

If this is not possible, adjust your chair –make it higher or shorter with the help of level provided.

Move your neck up-down for a several times after every hour.

Rotate your head 10 times from end-to-end after every three hours.

 

Major Health Problems Due to Lack of Motion

·        Constipation & Piles –it’s hard stool in layperson’s language.

·        The intestines push the food ahead with regular bowel movements called peristalsis.

·        If you sit for longer hours daily for years, the intestine becomes sluggish.

·        It is also due to improper timing of the meals that is observed in the IT professionals.

·        The intestines then give up their work or become too slow. This results in the indigestion and forming of hard stools and piles fissures, fistulas, etc.too.

 

·        Prevention: Take your meals on time.

Take a walk-break rather coffee break! Include fiber in your diet (dark, green and leafy vegetables) and avoid too oily and junk food.

After every hour, simply stand up, stretch your body, press your stomach gently and sit down.

 

·        Heart Problem – According to NPR, a 2010 study revealed that the men with more than 23 hr./week of sedentary lifestyle were 64% greater risks of dying from cardiac arrest as compared to those who with less than 11 hr./week.

·        For IT guys, this is alarming. The increase in cholesterol in IT professionals could be due to improper food timing, junk food, lack of motion and exercises.

·        Improper breathing, chronic constipation, and poor blood circulation can also cause this issue.

 

·        Prevention: Remain active.

Regularly go for the jogging as cardio exercises are the best to prevent this problem.

Prefer stairs over elevators.

 

 

Obesity in IT professionals

·        Obesity or overweight –this is typical problem that IT professionals face these days.

·        The reason is simple again, lack of motion, activities and exercises.

·        Constant sitting on the chair in front of the computer add extra pounds to your body.

 

·        Prevention: Avoid junk food.

·        Stop munching every time and if you cannot, keep sprouts, salads (carrots and cucumbers are best for this) or something fiber rich edible.

·        Regular exercise and jogging will be great for this.

 

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

·        We have tunnel in our wrists which consists of muscles, nerves, blood vessels etc.

·         This syndrome is due to continuous movements offingers and hand in particular direction several hundred times a day while using keyboard and mouse.

·        Stiffness and pain in the wrist, numbness in the fingers and tingling sensation in the hand are few of the symptoms.

 

·        Prevention: Rotate your wrist every hour; flex and relax the fingers several times.

·        Put something spongy under your wrist.

·        Adjust the level of your sitting. The wrist should be parallel to the desk so that you don’t form any angle while typing or moving the mouse.

 

Thrombosis –Deep vein thrombosis: 

·        In other words, the clots deep in the legs.

·        This happens due to lack of motion in the legs.

·        The legs bear heavy flow of the blood because of the gravitational force.

·        This major health problem in IT professional is due to long sitting hours on the computer without any physical movement of the legs.

·        The vein in later stage become stiffened, start paining and then gives unbearable sprain and rigidity in the legs.

 

·        Prevention: Move your legs.

·        Regularly stand up, take a short walk and come back.

·        Jogging, cardio exercises, sports, aerobics etc. are helpful.

 

Multiple Health Issues Due to Lack of Proper Breathing:

·        One of the commonest problems I have observed in IT companies is lack of ventilation. While the dwelling is initially planned with central air conditioning, the scope of putting windows for ventilation is always ignored.

 

Poor ventilation- Hypoxia

·        The level of carbon dioxide is raised when lot many people exhale in poorly ventilated hall.

·        It is for this reason, the brain receives less oxygen and over the period of time, there could be mental health disorder including depression, anxiety, lack of concentration and any such issue what is mental health related.

·        Poor breathing pattern also invites weakness of muscles, sleeplessness (insomnia), improper eye-to-hand coordination, decreased memory, strains and pains in the body, and poor blood circulation.

 

·        Prevention: We generally breathe only one fourth of our actual capacity. Try to breathe deeper all time. If possible, arrange the ventilation or go out at times to breathe fresh.

 

 

What are the Preventive Strategies:

·        Sleep: A good sleep was found to be the most common strategy to cope up with the health concerns. Adequate sleep for 6 to 7 hrs on weekdays and more than 7 hours on weekend is required to cope with eye strain, headache and body ache.

 

·        Physical Exercise, Swimming, Walking and Sports: 88%  in USA spend about 1 hour daily in these activities while the same is done by only 40% subjects in India.

 

·        Relaxation at Home: Spend 4 to 6 hours with family on weekends on activities like prayer, shopping and parties is advisable.

 

·        Breaks During Work: Taking rest breaks on an average 2 times a day is advisable.

·        Henning reported that frequent short breaks can benefit worker productivity and wellbeing. These breaks can be in the form of coffee breaks or include small exercises like stretching,small walks, shoulder shrugs, neck rolling, eye blinking, etc.

·        According to WISHA 2002 shorter (one to three minutes) and more frequent (every 30-60 minutes) breaks may help to reduce discomfort while improving productivity.

 

·        Using antiglare glasses/lensescan prevent from considerable visual problems.

 

·        Things to take care of in prolonged computer usage:

The posture –how you sit in front of the computer

The distance –how far is computer from your eyes

The level –at what eye level the computer is fixed

Lack of motion & repetition –the body movement while using

computers for the whole day

The breath –the air you breathe in

 

How Homeopathy helps…?

·  

·        Appropriate corrections in the lifestyle are done after studying the patient’s complete life history.

·        Effective results can be obtained at random when a harmony exists between the patient and his domestic and professional environment.

·        Correct Homeopathic medicines stimulate the genetic code to enhance and boost the immune responses for removal of on-going metabolic disturbances.