Obesity, Lack of Sleep Plagues Most U.S. Workers According to NIOSH Study

As if U.S. worker’s aren’t already plagued by stress, NIOSH conducted a study using data published by the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine back in December that suggests that 1 in 5 U.S. workers are either obese or are lacking sleep.

When broken down, NIOSH reports that more than 20 percent of workers are obese, don’t get enough physical activity during the day, or are short on adequate sleep.

Roughly 16-30 percent of workers had a body mass index of 30 or higher. the study also concluded that 1 in 5 workers had not gotten any physical activity in the past month.

Additionally, about 31-43 percent of workers in the sample reported getting less than 7 hours a sleep per night.

Because the study had respondents from different occupational groups, it concluded that certain professions reported a significant amount more of each of these risk factors than others. Transportation and other material moving employees reported more of all three of these health risks more than any other employee.

In the category of shortened sleep time, production, healthcare and healthcare technical services reported higher percentages of lack of sleep.

Obesity, lack of sleep, and lack of physical exercise are three very common risk factors for heart diseases such as:

• Heart attack– a clot in the artery causes a complete blockage, and the part of the heart muscle where it occurred, is denied blood supply and starts to die.
• Coronary artery disease– cholesterol plaque builds up in the arterial walls, causing complete blockage.

These three health risks can also cause serious diseases such as:

• Diabetes- when your body does not produce enough insulin to keep your blood glucose levels normal.
• Stroke– caused by a blocked blood vessel or bleeding in the brain.

In order to reduce your risk for serious diseases, it’s important that adults:

Get regular physical exercise– AHA recommends that for over-all cardiovascular health, at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity at least 5 days per week for a total of 150. OR at least 25 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity at least 3 days per week for a total of 75 minutes; or a combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Both of these should be paired with moderate- to high-intensity muscle-strengthening activity at least 2 days per week for additional health benefits.

For lowering blood pressure, AHA recommends an average of 40 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic activity 3 or 4 times per week.

Maintaining a healthy diet- adults should strive to eat only the daily recommended value of fats, carbs, cholesterol, etc. per the daily recommended values:

Quitting smoking- smoking tobacco increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer significantly among putting you at risk for other diseases.

 Getting the recommended amount of sleep- the National Sleep Foundation suggests:

• Teenagers (14-17): 8-10 hours of sleep
• Young Adults (18-24): 7-9 hours of sleep
• Adults (26-64): 7 to 9 hours of sleep
• Older Adults (64+): 7 to 8 hours of sleep