Biological clock gone awry? Here's help at hand

BANGALORE: If you work in the software industry or a call centre, your biological clock is bound to be distorted. While a sitting job has made back and neck pains as real as your fat pay cheque, improper eating might be a bigger challenge to you than deciphering that US accent on phone.
But not to despair. Help is around the corner. A programme launched two weeks ago might help you solve problems related to a hectic job in which sitting in front of the computer or attending to phone calls is the order of the day.
Lifestyle, offered by Creativity International, hopes to wake up problem-ridden Bangaloreans to a healthy and hearty life.Creativity International is a global corporate training house with its presence in New York, Sydney, Taipei, Seoul and Colombo.
It addresses two main issues of workforce - stress and nutrition - in detail and provides tips for a healthy life. The two facilitators of the four-hour programme are behavioural psychologist Dr Brindha Sitaram and nutritionist Sheela Krishnaswamy.
Says Manoj Kunisseri, CEO of M&D, a parent company of Management Enterprise Solutions of which Creativity is an offshoot, "While offering other management solutions to the call centre and software industry, the growing physical problems of the workforce helped us figure out the need for a health package too." A four-hour programme will train an entire workforce in relaxation exercises, healthy eating habits and even tutor them on ensuring an enhanced voice.
"Stress is a very individual concept. It is required to achieve a certain level of success," says Kunisseri. But the aim of Lifestyle is to make an individual realise the amount of stress that his or her body can take. Says Rupa from Creativity International, "We have been getting individual calls for the programme which we attend to, though we prefer to work at the organisation level."
According to experts, no matter what the call center industry tries to do to adjust the night-day cycle, it is not advisable and can never be the same as working during the day. The damages in the long run can be irreversible if preventive and proper measures are not taken. With the number of recruitments in the call centre industry increasing, generally in the age group of 18 to 25 years, the unestimated toll on the body and the quick burnout can only be reduced with effective guidance.