Demanding targets make employees sleep less than 6 hours: Assocham

New Delhi: Nearly 56 percent of corporate employees in India sleep less than six hours a day due to high stress levels that arise out of tough targets set by their employers, an Assocham Healthcare Committee report said here on Monday.

"Setting of unreasonable and unrealistic targets causes lack of sleep, has wide-ranging effects including daytime fatigue, physical discomfort, psychological stress, performance deterioration, and low pain threshold and even increase absenteeism," the report said.

Findings of the report pointed out that sleep deprivation costs $150 billion a year due to higher stress and reduced workplace productivity. The work performance pressure, peer pressure, difficult boss -- all of this is taking a toll on the physical and mental health of people, it said.

About 46 percent of the Indian workforce suffers from some form of stress, according to the survey. The stress could be related to personal issues, office politics, or performance target issues, it added. 

"There is a rising case of metabolic syndrome that includes, diabetes, high uric acid, high blood pressure, obesity, and high cholesterol (in India)," the report said.

About 16 percent of the sample population of the survey claims that they suffer from obesity. Depression was witnessed among 11 percent of the respondents, it said.

People suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes comprised of 9 percent and 8 percent of the sample population respectively, as per the report. 

Spondylosis (5.5 percent), heart disease (4 percent), cervical (3 percent), asthma (2.5 percent), slip disk (2 percent), and arthritis (1 percent) are other common diseases among corporate employees, it said.

"Depression, fatigue, and sleeping disorder are conditions or risks that are often associated with chronic diseases and have the largest impact on productivity."