Hustle Culture Paradox: Unmasking the Hidden Health Risks

Written by Irza Shaikh

In the era of normalizing hustle culture amongst younger people, little to no attention is paid to health. It’s important to start prioritizing your health whilst also pursuing your goals. In this blog we are going to discuss the health problems commonly ignored when working for longer hours.

Posture: From carrying a heavy backpack to slouching on a chair for longer hours to leaning towards a screen, we have all seen people around us carrying out their daily routines with such habits. This not only leads to muscle and joint pain but can also result in further common problems like poking chin, uneven shoulder alignment and fatigue. It’s important to identify the mistakes in our posture and also in our peers to prevent any more severe health problems. This can be done by ensuring a light, easy to carry backpack, and remembering to wear the straps on both shoulders! Secondly, to correct posture when sitting for longer hours, and to take frequent breaks to relieve any fatigue and discomfort. 

Eye strain: Headaches, Migraine and Eye strain are all so common in people glued to screens for longer hours. Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) is much more common than we pay attention to. It can lead to blurred vision, dry eyes and neck pain alongside headaches and eye strain. This can easily be corrected and prevented by a few changes and adjustments in our screen time habits such as correcting the location of the screen, using anti glare screens, blinking frequently, taking breaks, and maintaining a proper seating position. 

Dehydration: Fatigue and headache are also associated with dehydration as most forget to drink enough water throughout the day. It’s important to have at least 2-4 liters of water everyday. One way that made me stay hydrated throughout the day is to carry a 2 liter water bottle with me everywhere I go and make sure to go through it once or twice a day. Other than that, you can also install a habit tracker on your phone to remind you to drink water throughout the day!

As a student in Medicine, these health problems were inevitable for me and my peers. This not only resulted in encumbrances in our growth but also severely impacted our daily lives. I gradually realized that most of these problems were only because of being too hard on myself and not giving myself enough time and attention. In the course of time, I identified my problems and worked on them and that only resulted in my productivity sky rocketing! 

I hope you educate yourself and people around you from this blog!

Also comment down if you’ve noticed any changes in your health due to working everyday for longer hours and how has that had an impact on you, and what helped you get better at it?