MorataBW

HEALTH
Health Risks That
Entrepreneurs Face
How do you strike the cord between running a
business and maintaining a healthy lifestyle when
starting a business? BY TUMO MODIMOENG
Entrepreneurship is highly-decorated,
and it is not likely what you are hearing.
It is not for the faint-hearted, and no one
is there to warn you of the grim side
of entrepreneurship. If you think your
previous job was stressful, welcome
to the real deal, congratulations are in
order! Entrepreneurs are risk-takers,
and most invest all they have to start a
business, and failure is not an option.
With this constant pressure to succeed
come health risks.
CHRONIC STRESS AND HEADACHE
The pressure to excel means constant
tracking of transactions, clients,
and day-to-day working. Especially
when it is new, and you do not have
enough workers to assign. And if
you can delegate, you will still worry
that something could go wrong. You,
still have the pressure to uphold the
standard and deliver, both of which
means a rise in the stress hormones.
The stress from running a business
can result in a headache that lasts
for days, trying to find a solution to
resolve the matters at hand. Sometimes
you may experience a mental freeze,
whereby the brain is just tired.
BAD DIET AND NON-COMMUNICABLE
DISEASES (NCDS)
With a busy lifestyle, entrepreneurs
rarely have time to prepare a
decent lunch or even go home to a
nice home-cooked meal, so most of
them would resort to fast food. The
consumption of energy drinks and
coffee to uplift their energy levels
also adds to the bad diet.
Bad diet leads to poor health such
as diabetes, high blood pressure and
heart disease. NCDs are mostly are the
result of bad diet and lack of exercise.
Entrepreneurs rarely have time for
exercise. The constant consumption of
high caffeine drinks can also lead to
palpitations, thus increasing a chance
for heart disease.
SLEEP DEPRIVATION
If it’s not the stress, it’s working for
late extended hours. On average,
entrepreneurs work 60% more hours
than the average employee work hours.
So they hardly have time to get some
good sleep.
However, one can combat these risks by
taking the following steps:
GET ENOUGH SLEEP
It is not easy for entrepreneurs to sleep
early and get the required 7-8 hours of
sleep. They often sleep late and wake
up early. However, getting enough sleep
is crucial for being productive, at least
aim for 6 hours. Get rid of things that
may deprive you of sleep, switch off
your phone if need be or put it on silent.
Ensure that the room you sleep in is
cool as this helps maintain your sleep.
Limit watching television and the
computer when nearing bedtime as
these emit the blue-ray light. The blueray
disturbs the body production of the
sleep hormone and makes it hard to fall
asleep. You may listen to soulful music
to help you ease the body to sleep. Get
some shower, and follow a sleep routine.
20 MorataBW March 2021
Photo by whoislimos on Unsplash