Bangalore, April 15, 2008: Lifestyle changes, increased working hours, family and work related crises is causing more urban Indians to fall prey to fatigue and tiredness.

 

The country’s first ever study on 'Prevalence of Fatigue' revealed something that was feared for a long time—the growing level of tiredness and fatigue among the urban population.

The study was conducted in seven major cities among 1309 respondents together by Lifetime Wellness Rx International and Glaxo SmithKline Consumer Healthcare.

 

The top findings of the study reported a higher prevalence of fatigue among the three big cities – Kolkata (38.10%), Delhi (30%) and Bangalore (32.10%). Cities such as Hyderabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Madurai and Chennai reported more than 20% fatigue. The study stated that women had 1.5 times higher risk of being fatigued with a higher proportion (31.1 %) being fatigued as compared to men (25.6 %). There was no association between fatigue and age suggesting that fatigue prevalence is irrespective of age.

 

Dr Adrian Kennedy, Managing Director, Lifetime Wellness Rx International, an Apollo Hospitals group company said, “In the Indian context to our knowledge, there is no published survey on fatigue in normal urban populations. The 'prevalence of fatigue' study is therefore relevant and it shows significant associations between fatigue and common health-related complaints such as headaches, backaches, acidity and insomnia”.

 

Fatigue is a normal and important response to physical exertion, emotional stress, boredom, or lack of sleep. If unnoticed it may however affect an individual's ability to perform, or, become a chronic problem.

A.     Fatigue has strong associations with various lifestyle & nutritional factors.           

B.     46% of urban adults with high stress levels reported feeling fatigued.

C.     Problems like constant & daily hassles, career, financial and/ or family problems are significantly associated with fatigue.           

D.    People facing crisis stress such as major family & occupational problems are at 1.5 times higher odds/ chances/ risk for fatigue.           

E.     Fatigue prevalence ­ in people with high junk food consumption.          

F.      60-70% of people who were fatigue reported more than usual lack of energy and less strength in their muscles.         

G.    45-50% of people who reported fatigue had more than usual problems starting things, difficulty in concentrating or with memory.

 

Dr Sivakumar, Scientist and Former Director, National Institute of Nutrition said, “The socio-economic transition has brought about a rapid change in our lifestyle and the urban population is more susceptible with risk factors such as obesity and hypertension increasing and health surveys indicating that, prevalence of heart diseases is also on the rise.”

 

The 'Prevalence of Fatigue' shows that factors such as family and occupational, problems are impacting the general well being. Good diet, physical exercise and nutritional supplementation are all the requisites to cope with everyday challenges”, said, Mr. Pradeep, Executive Vice President - R&D and Reg. Affairs, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare.