‘I barely slept, my hair fell out in bunches due to stress’

Saptaparna Samajdar turned all of 23 years old yesterday but has already seen some of the worst that the corporate world has to offer What kind of work stress does someone in their early 20s face you askSamajdar who started her first job at 21 as a content writer before she had even completed her BA honours degree in English from Delhi University remembers how she would stay up late every night to try and complete her everincreasing workload for a workplace that showed a total lack of empathy for worklife balance ldquoI was given impossible targets like 2000 words per day and then there were constant changes and edits I would have to rework the submitted material while keeping up with my daily targets at the same timerdquo she saysWithin months she saw the impact of this stress on her body ldquoOne day as I ran a comb through my hair entire patches of it came off I was pretty shocked and didnrsquot understand what was happeningrdquo the Nerul resident recallsShe was diagnosed with Telogen Effluviummdashsevere hair loss brought on by extreme stressDoctors say technology has made Gen Z accessible to employers 24x7 leaving with no cut off time from the officeldquoThe doctor asked me about my daily routine and one of the biggest factors that came up was stress and lack of sleep I barely slept I got maybe three to four hours of sleep each nightrdquo says Samajdar who reveals that she also lost 15 kg over two to three months due to stressLast week after the tragic death of Anna Sebastian Perayil a 26yearold chartered accountant CA at a multinational auditing firm in Pune her mother blamed the company for subjecting Perayil to excessive workload stress and sleepless nightsSince her letter went public the discourse across the country is turning to how Gen Zmdashthe newest entrants in the workforcemdashis getting hit hard by work stress While there has been criticism of a rising workaholic culture in corporate circles others have questioned whether Gen Z seems less resilient to work pressure than older generationsStress and lack of sleep are a very real problems among todayrsquos workforce says somnologist sleep expert Dr Nushafreen Irani research director at the International Institute of Sleep Sciences IISS in Thane ldquoWe recently conducted a clinical study on the prevalence of perceived stress and insomnia in the 20 to 29 age group which showed an alarming 30 per cent of this age group suffer from sleep problems People post 30s are also facing these problems and this can sometimes result in dementiardquo he sharesDr Priyanka Udawat Dr Nushafreen Irani and Dr Hemlata AroraOf course not everything can be blamed on work pressure itrsquos a combination of lifestyle issues and the changing demands of a techsavvy world that are at play says Dr Hemalata Arora senior consultant at the Internal Medicine department at Nanavati Max Hospital ldquoThey Gen Z are less resilient than Millennials not because of any genetic disorder but because of a lifestyle that has gone against them for many years put togetherrdquo she saysOne of the biggest issues is bad food habitsmdashboth in terms of irregular meal timings and unprecedented consumption of processed food more prevalent among Gen Z than any other generation she says ldquoLimited sleep leads to high cortisol levels Additionally there is a lot more smoking and drinking among both genders which is one of the core causes of fatty livers along with stress and high blood pressure Pollution too has hit their immunity and they fall ill more oftenrdquo says Dr AroraTechnology and the resulting need to constantly stay switched on and alert is where Gen Z seems to have really drawn the short straw though ldquoUnlike older generations Gen Z is always forced to be available to the office on their gadgets so they never leave the office so to speakrdquo Dr Arora points outIn a generation that gave rise to the doomscrolling and bedrotting trends a sedentary lifestyle and increased screen time may be just as much to blame Dr Priyanka Udawat a consultant with the Department of Gastroenterology amp Advance Endoscopy at Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital says ldquoOne of the main things I tell my Gen Z patients is to get off the phone after a certain time There is a direct connection between mindless latenight scrolling and mental health sleep disorders and overall health Most of them are serial scrollers their peak phone usage time is from 10 pm to 2 am They only eat work and sleep resulting in an epidemic of depression and other health issues One of my patients has developed such bad gut health due to his stressful lifestyle that he lost all his hairrdquoOdd working hours especially among Gen Z working across different time zones at multinational companies take a severe toll on health ldquoAny person on night shifts is working against nature and they tend to have both physical and mental health issuesrdquo she says ldquoAdditionally they are eating out more too Food affects mood Higher intake of salt and sugar can give an immediate kick but the crash that follows is too intense and often leads to depressionrdquoVanita name changed a 26yearold CA working at a Mumbai firm says managing healthy eating sleeping and exercise habits is near impossible with the kind of work pressure they face Perayilrsquos case is not an isolated instance ldquoMany of my friends who work in the Big four auditing firms face similar situationsrdquo she says adding that even at the smaller firm she works at there is no respect for her personal time ldquoRecently I went on a fourday break and was bombarded with calls to attend important meetings At the end of my work day at 8 pm I am told to work on something and submit it by 10 pm or told to work in the first half of Saturday even though it is my day offrdquo she says Vanita recently hired a trainer to get some exercise in her schedule but has been unable to actually get to the gym ldquoToday I woke up early to work out but ended up working at my laptop insteadrdquoOne way to preempt such worklife imbalance is to thoroughly research any organisation before joining it something that Gen Z does way more than preceding generations says Avinash Shahri founder at HR Yaar Consulting Services ldquoGen Z is very sure about wanting a 9to5 job and anything more immediately puts them off They often seek out existing employees at their prospective workplaces on LinkedIn just to see what kind of a support system they will have This not something we Millennials did and it did hurt our generation in terms of mental and physical healthrdquo the recruitment expert saysGen Z is often thought of as a selfish generation that puts itself first but this is a hardwon survival skill that Samajdar has learnt from her past experience ldquoPreviously I only thought about my salary and the companyrsquos reputation but now I have come to value my well being too I learnt not to say yes to the first job I was offered and to read the fine print firstrdquo she saysNow pursuing a Masters in Media Studies at Tata Institute of Social Sciences Samajdar dedicates around three to four hours to herself as ldquotargetless hoursrdquo ldquoThese are hours that I will not seek to gain from monetarily at all I write casually and read for fun Somehow I have started to regain bits of myself piece by piece in the last two yearsrdquo she concludes3037Of workforce under 30 suffers from stress and insomniaSource International Institute of Sleep Sciences