Unhealthy Indians will cause $237 bn-loss to country

Indian professionals are unhealthy and how! A study by World Health Organisation (WHO) says almost 47 per cent of the workforce in Indian industries, especially in urban areas, were found to be overweight while around 27 per cent were suffering from hypertension. Around 10 per cent of those surveyed were also found to be diabetic.

The survey, which looked at the health of 35,000 employees and their family members, aged 10-69 years in 10 different industries, and 20,000 randomly selected individuals, found workers at greater risk of developing chronic diseases like heart attack, stroke and cancer .

Due to this rise in lifestyle diseases — like diabetes, stroke and cancer caused because of unhealthy workplaces — India could incur losses to the tune of $237 billion by 2015, the new WHO report has said.

The economic loss in India, which was $8.7 billion in 2005, is projected to rise to $ 54 billion in 2015, according to the report, Preventing Communicable Diseases in the Workplace through Diet and Physical Activity.

The projected loss for China — the other fast developing country — is a massive $ 558 billion, while the estimated figure for Russia and the UK is $ 33 billion.

The estimated income loss in Brazil in 2015 would be $9.3 billion, while in Pakistan $ 6.7 billion, Nigeria $ 1.5 billion and Canada $ 1.5 billion.

Promoting the concept of a healthy workplace, the report has said targeting physical inactivity and unhealthy dietary habits are effective in improving health-related outcomes such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk factors.

The report was presented to the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Wednesday.

This report — the outcome of an event jointly organised by WHO and the World Economic Forum — summarises the current evidence available in addressing

the different dimensions of the workplace as a key setting for interventions designed to prevent Non-Communicable Diseases through diet and physical activity.

You have been dying since the day you were born

If you consider that your watch is the most accurate – you are wrong. There is no watch that can show the most exact time than Mr. Jones Accurate Watch. Actually, the watch always reminds the only truth in your life – "Remember – you will die". The phrase is written on the watch-hands. At first sight this may seem really cruel.

Everything you do will be doubted every time you look at the watch. The Accurate watch warns you that you shouldn’t waste the time and live a full life. It means we shouldn’t waste our energy and do useless things; we have to choose what is the most important and appreciate it.

On the one hand, the gadget really depresses, but on the other hand, it might become rather interesting accessory and help not to pay attention to different trifles. But, isn’t the price 5 too high for the watch that tells you about your demise so often? - Infoniac

Infosys HR boss tops Co director’s pay list

Infosys’s human resources head T V Mohandas Pai takes home the highest salary and bonus among all the board of directors of the company, including chairperson Nandan M Nilekani and chief executive officer S Gopalakrishnan.

According to Infosys’s recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Pai receives a salary of $82,033 and a bonus of $3,08,625 in a year, the highest among the 15 members of the board. The Board is chaired by the firm’s chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy while one of the co-founders and director Nandan M Nilekani is the co-chairperson.

While Nilekani receives $51,414 salary and $1,22,841 as bonus, Narayana Murthy does not take home any of them but $1,25,000 in annual compensation.

Other members of the board include chief executive officer S Gopalakrishnan, chief operating officer S D Shibulal, lead independent director Deepak M Satwalekar, head (communication, design group, information systems and quality and productivity) K Dinesh and head (delivery excellence) Srinath Batni.

Pai, who is also the head of administration, education and research, Finacle and Infosys Leadership Institute, happens to be the youngest among board of directors.

Further, Gopalakrishnan and Dinesh gets salary and bonus as same as that of Nilekani whereas Shibulal receives a salary of $50,061 and $117,220 as bonus.

However, Marti G Subrahmanyam, Omkar Goswami, Rama Bijapurkar, Claude Smadja, Sridar A Iyengar, David L Boyles and Jeffrey Sean Lehman, who are also directors, do not take home any salary or bonus. The IT major pays Pai $31,916 under ‘other annual compensation’ and the amount accrued for long-term benefits stands at $20,805.

However, senior vice-president (banking and capital markets) Ashok Vemuri, and senior vice-president (manufacturing) B G Srinivas, get more salary and bonus than Pai in the company’s top brass. Vemuri is paid a salary of $393,380 and a bonus of $292,789. — PTI

Hi-tech gadgets forcing couples to sleep apart

BlackBerrys, hand-held games consoles and laptops are taking a toll on the sex lives of British couples.

The Sleep Council, which conducted the study, found that a quarter of couples regularly sleep apart as British bedrooms increasingly go hi-tech.

The study also found that nine per cent of couples always slept alone while a further 16 per cent went to separate beds at least once a month.

The poll of 1,400 Britons of all ages found that eight out of ten used at least one gadget before bedtime.

One in three made phone calls or sent emails in bed while one in five admitted to surfing networking websites such as Facebook, playing computer games or listening to a portable music player.

A further fifth checked social networking sites such as Facebook, play computer games or listen to MP3 players.

The study also showed that one-fifth of those questioned charged an electrical appliance, such as a mobile phone, before turning off the lights.

On the contrary, the researchers said that just a tenth made the time to say their prayers.

"With our 24/7 society and internet access, mobile phones, Black-Berrys and the like, bedtime routines are becoming ever busier. They are driving couples' bedtimes and even their bedrooms apart," the Telegraph quoted Jessica Alexander of the Sleep Council, as saying.

"Young people, in particular, are more confident about telling their partner they don't want to be disturbed by them watching TV, checking Facebook or shopping online in bed.

"They will say they would rather have a good night's sleep on their own and that separate beds does not automatically mean that the relationship is falling apart," she added.

Durex survey: Indians not sexually satisfied

A new global survey on sexual well-being conducted by the condom manufacturer Durex shows that Indians are low on sexual satisfaction. Achieving an orgasm is a key driver of sexual satisfaction. Just 46 per cent of Indians said that they usually orgasm. Moreover, the level of sexual satisfaction was half for women as compared to that of men in India. While 55 per cent Indian males achieve orgasm, only 26 per cent Indian women can say the same. This difference in gender pretty much holds true globally, where twice as many men (64 per cent) as women regularly have orgasms. The survey says Italians, Spaniards and Mexicans have the best sex lives, with 66 per cent of them reaching the peak, while the people of Hong Kong and China (24 per cent achieve orgasm) and the Japanese (27 per cent achieve orgasm) have the worst sex lives.

Buddhas Warriors Glamour Bazaar India Are people sexually satisfied? Sex worldwide could be better. Apparently, we have lost our sense of adventure, our libidos and our interest. 60 per cent of us say that sex is fun, enjoyable, and a vital part of life. However, only 44 per cent of people are fully satisfied with their sex lives. The survey establishes that we become less satisfied with our sex lives as we get older, more so for men than women. This is partly because we tend to have sex less often and we have been in relationships for longer.

We tend to find things less exciting and more monotonous. Interestingly, having children doesn't negatively impact upon satisfaction. Emotional Drivers Sexual priorities are changing. People are looking for the softer, more sophisticated side of sex — quality time with partners, romance and a sense of security within the bedroom. Feeling close to your partner, feeling loved, respected and secure all impact strongly on our ability to achieve sexual satisfaction. Mutual respect plays a vital role in a satisfying sex life. Eighty-two per cent of people surveyed (who are sexually satisfied) say they feel respected by our partner during sex, while 39 per cent are looking for more love and romance.

Thirty-six per cent would like more quality time alone with their partner, 31 per cent would like more fun and better communication and intimacy with their partner and 29 per cent, a higher sex drive. Thirty-seven per cent want to feel less stressed out and tired. Having an exciting sex life is also important, although this decreases during a relationship. Those who have been in a relationship over three years tend to be less inhibited. It's important to try to keep your sex life as exciting as possible. Fifty-three per cent of us see the benefits of introducing a little experimentation into our sex lives What is sexual well-being? Sexual well-being is a balance of physical, emotional and sociological factors. It's about protecting and nurturing the sexual health of both you and your partner, getting the most from your sex life and feeling confident and happy about yourself. Sexual well-being is a fundamental part of human well-being and health.

Newsby: ibnlive