Demanding schedules, high-stress levels, lack of physical activity, and poor eating habits have resulted in nearly 50% + of corporate employees becoming prone to Diabetes. Although the numbers are high when it comes to prediabetic work employees and the recent study by health-tech startup Fitterfly revealed that about 75% of the corporate workforce in India is at a higher risk of developing diabetes. Unfortunately, there is a 20% leap in the age bracket and most of them are between the age group of 35 to 45 which was earlier 45-60 years. 

India ranks second across the world with the patient over 70 million. In the USA, 96 million US adults have prediabetes. While Germany has the highest prevalence of diabetes in Europe among its adult population with over 15.3 % living with diabetes. Portugal followed with the second-highest share at 14.2 % across Europe. Most of these employees are unaware of their health conditions and the numbers are increasing rapidly every year.

We often hold a myth that Diabetes is caused to those who have sweet tooth but it’s not the only reason. It is a lifestyle disorder, and the chief causes of it in working employees are inactive life, poor diet, and more stress.

In active life: Most of the employees are working for 8 to 10 hours a day. If we add the travelling time to it, then it may add 10 to 12 hours that are exclusively dedicated to working. This eventually is compromised with their workout time. When asked the corporate employees, many of them agree that “They don’t have time! A normal walk or hitting to the gym will take 1 hour or more and so it becomes hard for them to manage it with their personal work and family time.”

This is even more difficult for female employees as they also need to manage their household chores. Also, working a corporate job involves long sitting hours, culminating in a sedentary lifestyle and this “sitting disease” affects health adversely and increases the risk of being overweight and developing diabetes.

Stress: Work pressure, burnout, and stress have also become common, which increases the risks. While stress is a normal part of life, and a little stress will not cause prediabetes, chronically high amounts of stress may. Stress causes the release of stress hormones like Cortisol, Epinephrine, and Norepinephrine which can cause insulin resistance, resulting in extremely high glucose levels in the bloodstream. Also, an employee under stress is unable to take care of his diet and nutrition and doesn’t exercise much. These can cause weight gain, increasing the risk of diabetes.

Diabetes can also affect the mind. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people with diabetes are 2 to 3 times more likely to suffer depression than people without diabetes. So diabetic employees need to be alert.

Unhealthy Diet: Many of the corporate employees will raise their fingers when asked who skips their breakfast or doesn’t have regular eating time. Be it a distance from work or long working hours, many corporate employees follow unhealthy eating habits. One in four employees is too ‘stressed’ to think about eating healthily at work, according to a survey that exposes how work pressures have affected eating habits. Most of the working employees have no time to cook and hence are forced to buy their lunch from the office canteen or nearby restaurant.

Now that we know the causes and so it’s time to adopt a healthy lifestyle with the possible solutions: 

Prioritize your Health: Nothing should come before your health- be it physical or mental health. Your health should be your topmost priority. Also, there is a direct link between your productivity and health. So, if you are in a race of gaining success, neglecting your health is not the right choice. 

Take Less Stress: Stress will not solve your work-related problems, instead, it will affect your decision-making ability. The more you stress, the lesser will you perform. So, keep yourself calm, plan things in advance, meditate, talk for help and guidance, and keep yourself away from the toxic environment.

Stand up every 20 min:

Yes, the ‘sitting disease’ can be dangerous! New science shows very persuasively that standing up about every 20 minutes, even for only a minute or two, reduces your risks of developing diabetes and heart disease.

 By standing up, you cause the big muscles in your legs and back to contract, which leads to an increase in certain enzymes that break up fat in the bloodstream. You don’t have to jog in place or do jumping jacks. Just stand. A very pleasant additional benefit is that standing up every 20 to 30 minutes also seems to prompt the body to burn calories, so you don’t gain as much weight from sitting at the office most of the day. Do a small walk after your lunch or in between your working hours.

Take enough Rest: Make sure you take enough sleep on your working days. Try to get in your bed by 11 pm. Make sure that you manage to have at least 7 hours of sleep daily.

Try to work out at least thrice a week: It’s ok that you are not able to hit the gym every day. A good workout at least thrice a day can serve the purpose. Start with a good morning or evening walk and eventually you can add an easy home workout or gym to your daily routine. 

Diabetes can have several causes, but adopting to a healthy lifestyle is the only best solution. This World Diabetes Day, commit yourself towards a healthy lifestyle.