Unhealthy Lifestyles And Obesity Lead To Higher Levels Of Productivity Losses In The Workplace

Unhealthy Lifestyles And Obesity Lead To Higher Levels Of Productivity Losses In The Workplace.
People who absorb in damaging habits such as smoking, eating a awful diet and not getting enough exercise turn out to be less productive on the job, new Dutch scrutinize shows. Unhealthy lifestyle choices also appear to translate into a greater need for sick leave and longer periods of duration off from work when sick leave is taken, the study reveals. The judgement is reported in the Sept 28, 2010 online edition of the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "More than 10 percent of ghoulish leave and the higher levels of productivity loss at sweat may be attributed to lifestyle behaviors and obesity," Alex Burdorf, of the department of public health at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues notable in a news release from the journal's publisher.

Between 2005 and 2009, Burdorf and his associates surveyed more than 10,600 relations who worked for 49 bizarre companies in the Netherlands. Participants were asked to discuss both lifestyle and work habits, rating their beget productivity on a scale of 0 to 10, while offering information about their weight, height, health history and the include of days they had to call in sick during the prior year.

The investigators found that 56 percent of those polled had entranced off at least one day in the preceding year because of poor health. Being obese, smoking, and having unacceptable diet and exercise habits were contributing factors in just over 10 percent of sick turn one's back on occurrences. In particular, obese workers were 66 percent more likely to call in sickened for 10 to 24 days than normal weight employees, and 55 percent more likely to memorandum of time off for 25 days or more, the study noted.

Smokers also took more sick leave. The cigarette pattern translated into a 30 percent greater likelihood that a worker would take off 10 to 24 days because of trifling health, Burdorf and his colleagues reported. By contrast, those who drank 10 or more glasses of fire-water each week were actually less likely to take time off for poor health, the authors observed.

Overall, the party found that weight appeared to be a key factor in whether or not an individual had an underlying fettle issue that might prompt needing sick leave. Among obese workers, 83 percent said they had developed at least one disease, compared with 75 percent of overweight workers and 69 percent of regular preponderancy men and women.

With respect to productivity, 44 percent felt they performed less than optimally in the era before taking the survey. Nearly four percent of those with impaired productivity were found to snack less than the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables, while smokers made up 20 percent of that group view. "Primary interventions on lifestyle may have a important contribution to maintaining a productive workforce," Burdorf and colleagues concluded in their report.