The healthiest people in the market place

Three years ago, we were privileged to analyse bio-medical data that was collected from Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan. The data was collected at banks, insurance companies, manufacturing firms, media outlets, open market places and taxi parks by a crop of vibrant medical professionals working for LiveWell Initiative, a health centric NGO operating from Lagos.

For over two years, LiveWell had collected data on age, gender, occupation/profession, Body Mass Indexes (BMI), Blood Pressure (BP) readings as well as a measure for stress captured using Holographic interferometry from some 6,000 Nigerians at their work places. That is the data we were given to work with.

Our burden, as researchers, was to tie the data together and find out if there was a pattern in health conditions among people in different age groups, industries/professions or cities using advanced statistical techniques.

We were however particular about finding out if certain industries were more encumbered by the stress phenomenon than others. At the end of the process, the results were fascinating.

We found that there is indeed a skew in the occurrences of high BP, unusual BMI and other measures of stress among people in certain industries. In particular, those in the insurance industry presented some of the most frightening outcomes; recording high levels of stress even for age brackets which would otherwise record low levels of readings, especially of BP.

As a matter of fact, we were told by those who collected the data that a staff of one of the insurance companies from which they gathered data slumped and passed on days after data was collected from his office. Stress was blamed for the fatality.

According to Bisi Bright, CEO of LiveWell Initiative, work stress commonly causes Syndrome X; and recent research has shown a direct correlation between work stress and syndrome X. Syndrome X is characterized by elevated blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, elevated cholesterol or elevated BMI. Most time, the sufferers are oblivious and this makes them more prone to chronic diseases especially hypertension and diabetes.

The data we analysed showed that other sectors have their share of these anomalies, albeit industries which demand sedentary lifestyles presented more staff members who had health indicators that went out the roof in negative directions. We compiled the analysis into a report, which has some localized advisory for the Nigerian workforce.

“The individual needs to sleep for at least 6 hours in every 24 hours; needs to drink at least 6-8 glasses of water in every 24 hours, manage his or her anger, and needs to manage time better. All of these processes are not dependent on how well paid an individual is,” Bright indicated in an introductory advisory note detailing ways to manage stress in congested cities like Lagos.

She lays the burden of stress reduction on three cardinal elements of modern society: The individual, organization and government.

The individual can help himself by being ‘health-empowered’: running regular tests and check-ups, modifying his lifestyle and diet as he progresses in age.

Bright suggests that organizations should enlighten their staffers through health empowerment and let them know how often to use the company health plan such that there is neither overuse nor underuse; especially with health insurance where underuse and overuse are quite common among the subscribed.

On the part of government, infrastructure including road networks, automation of services and institute quality assurance should be improved to make life better. That way, life will be more comfortable for people and the stress of everyday life is reduced.

There were other interesting findings on the bright side. We were fascinated by the outcome of the health indices of those who work in orphanages and those who sell vegetables across the open markets from which data was collected. At each market, (and consistently) vegetable sellers have some of the best health indicators. Their stress level was within acceptable limits across age brackets! And they had other very impressive bio-medical readings.

We tried to find out why. An investigation of their lifestyle which was done through small focus group discussions with some vegetable sellers in the Lagos metropolis showed that they do not engage in any extraordinary activity. However, most of them said that the fact that they have unbridled access to their stock in trade and consume large portions of what is left unsold daily may have a major impact on their health indicators.

Also, since a good number of them source their products from farms in the suburbs, the extra ordinary effort they put into moving their wares may count for regular exercise.

There is a lot to learn from the vegetable sellers. “To keep healthy in a stressful work environment, every adult should eat a fruit a day and should adopt a healthier diet – one which is rich in vegetables, fruits and lean meats. By lean meats, it is meant ‘white’ meats which contain less of the ‘bad fat’ (LDL Cholesterol) e.g.  Chicken of Fish, says Bright.

Apart from all the routines above, it is ideal to keep an open mind which is free from animosity and, that way, much stress reduction is achieved. In the case of those who work with the orphanages from which data was collected, it can be gleaned that the joy of doing great things for others may be a factor that reduces stress.

 

Obodo Ejiro

Ejiro is a Senior Research Analyst with BusinessDay’s Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU)