LIFESTYLE IN METRO

CITIES

REPORT WRITING,EC-221
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION
NETAJI SUBHAS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
28 APRIL,2015

SUBMITTED TO:
Mrs.Tanu Shree Chaudhary

BY: ARUN KUMAR

35/EC/13

SUMMARY
Summarising this report, this contains various points about health,
lifestyle, and life in metro cities in India and across the globe. As
working and living lifestyles change drastically, it is sought to
discover what effects the above are having on friendships, families,
working practices and most importantly general health. The answer is
to find simple, manageable steps towards a healthier lifestyle, finding
the combination of diet and physical activity that works for you,
whether you are a working mother, a doctor working night shifts, or
someone who sits at a desk all day. Our lives move at such a fast pace
- being stuck in a traffic jam is a chance to make a quick phone call,
travelling home on the train is a chance to compile the shopping list
and the lunch break is a chance to pop to the bank or return an item to
the shops.
'The key to stress and time management is the ability to stop "doing"
all the time and start "being" some of the time.'

CONTENTS
1. SUMMARY....................................................................3
2. INTRODUCTION..........................................................4
3. POLLUTION..5
3.1 EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON HEALTH.........5
3.2 STATUS OF AIR POLLUTION IN DELHI................5
3.3 MEASURES TO COMBAT POLLUTION..................6
4. WRONG EATING/SLEEPING HABITS..7
4.1 EATING HABITS.........................................................7
4.2 SLEEPING HABITS.....................................................7
5. HEALTH REPORT OF VARIOUS
METROPOLITAN ACROSS THE GLOBE.....8
6. FAST PACED LIFE...9
7. HOW TO MAINTAIN HEALTHY LIFESTYLE.....10
7.1 CHOOSE HEALTHY FOODS...............................................10
7.2 EXERCISE REGULARLY....................................................10
7.3 UNHEALTHY HABITS........................................................11
8. REDUCING STRESS....................................................11
9. CONCLUSION...............................................................12
10. REFRENCES.................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The present lifestyle that we see in metro cities is the result of various factors
that we observe around us.
Be it
1. Pollution
2. Wrong eating/sleeping habits
3. Fast paced life, etc.
Here if we talk about pollution, than it comes as a serious factor which affects
the lives, as in present state it causes huge amount of health related problems.
Ranging from its most serious type as air pollution, noise pollution, water
pollution ,soil pollution. All these types affects human as well as others life
seriously. Here air and water pollution are considered responsible for large
proportion of health related problems. Of late, the air pollution status in Delhi
has undergone many changes in terms of the levels of pollutants and the control
measures taken to reduce them.
Wrong eating and sleeping habits leads to various long and short term health
related problems such as fatigue, high blood pressure, sleeplessness, deprivation
from proteins and other vitals. Health report on various metropolitan shows
level of performance of metropolitan regions is tightly linked to the level of
development and welfare regime of the nation in which they exist. Fast paced
life could be related to depression or general anxiety, obesity. It has wide
ranging effects like daytime fatigue, physical discomfort, psychological stress,
performance deterioration, low pain threshold and increased absenteeism.

3. POLLUTION
.

3.1 EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON HEALTH

A large number of studies in Delhi have examined the effect of air pollution on respiratory functions
and the associated morbidity. The most comprehensive study among them was the one conducted by
the Central Pollution Control Board in 2008, which identified significant associations with all relevant
adverse health outcomes. The findings were compared with a rural control population in West Bengal.
It was found that Delhi had 1.7-times higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms (in the past 3
months) compared with rural controls (P < 0.001); the odds ratio of upper respiratory symptoms in the
past 3 months in Delhi was 1.59 (95% CI 1.32-1.91) and for lower respiratory symptoms (dry cough,
wheeze, breathlessness, chest discomfort) was 1.67 (95% CI 1.32-1.93). Prevalence of current asthma
(in the last 12 months) and physician-diagnosed asthma among the participants of Delhi was
significantly higher than in controls. Lung function was reduced in 40.3% individuals of Delhi
compared with 20.1% in the control group. Delhi showed a statistically significant (P < 0.05)
increased prevalence of restrictive (22.5% vs. 11.4% in control), obstructive (10.7% vs. 6.6%) as well
as combined (both obstructive and restrictive) type of lung functions deficits (7.1% vs. 2.0%).
Metaplasia and dysplasia of airway epithelial cells were more frequent in Delhi, and Delhi had the
greater prevalence of several cytological changes in sputum. Besides these, non-respiratory effects
were also seen to be more in Delhi than in rural controls. The prevalence of hypertension was 36% in
Delhi against 9.5% in the controls, which was found to be positively correlated with respirable
suspended particulate matter (PM10) level in ambient air. Delhi had significantly higher levels of
chronic headache, eye irritation and skin irritation.

3.2 STATUS OF AIR POLLUTION IN DELHI

Delhi (or the National Capital Territory of Delhi), is jointly administered by the central and state
governments. It accommodates nearly 167.5 lakh people (2011 Census of India).
Metros across the world bear the major brunt of environmental pollution; likewise, Delhi is at the
receiving end in India.
Vehicular pollution is an important contributor to air pollution in Delhi. According to the Department
of Transport, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, vehicular population is estimated at
more than 3.4 million, reaching here at a growth rate of 7% per annum. Although this segment
contributes to two-thirds of the air pollution, there has been a palpable decline compared to the 19951996 levels. The PM10 standard is generally used to measure air quality. The PM10 standard includes
particles with a diameter of 10 m or less (0.0004 inches or one-seventh the width of a human hair).
Major concerns for human health from exposure to PM10 include effects on breathing and respiratory
systems, damage to lung tissue, cancer and premature death. The urban air database released by the
World Health Organization in September 2011 reported that Delhi has exceeded the maximum
PM10 limit by almost 10-times at 198 g/m3.

3.3 MEASURES TO COMBAT POLLUTION

Delhi has more vehicles than the three metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai
combined. It is the only metropolitan city where commuters are primarily dependent on a single
transport system, i.e., road. This has led to an enormous increase in the number of vehicles with the
associated problems of traffic-congestion and increase in air and noise pollution. There is an urgent
need to strengthen and encourage use of public transport including development of MRTS and better
utilization of the existing ring railway.
Pollution from Thermal Power Plants
Thermal power plants contribute to 13% of air pollution. The main pollutants are stack emissions, fly
ash generation and fugitive emission in coal handling. All three thermal power plants need better use
of their emission control devices and the fly ash that they generate. There is an immediate need to use
beneficiated/washed coal which has a maximum ash content of 30%, which will reduce fly ash
generation by about 25%. It has also been recommended to the Thermal Power Stations to examine
the possibility of installing Bag House Filters in order to control emission of particles between the
size of PPM 2.5 to PPM-10.
Industrial Air Pollution
The air pollution generated from industrial activity in Delhi is about 12% of total air pollution.
Although several steps have been taken, industrial pollution needs to be reduced further. More than
1,300 industrial units, that were not allowed to operate under the MPD-2001 norms, have been closed.
A scheme has been prepared to relocate industrial units that currently operate in residential areas.
About 1,300 acres of land have been acquired and new industrial estates are being developed at
Bawana, Holumbi Kalan and Holumbi Khurd. Land available within existing industrial estates is also
being used to accommodate such industrial units. Anand Parbat, Shahdara and Samaipur Badli area
are being developed as industrial areas. All industries in Delhi using Coal Fired Boilers have been
asked to change over to Oil or Gas Fired Boilers in order to reduce air pollution generated from
industrial activities. This will also reduce the Fly Ash generated by the approximate 4000-5000 coal
fired boilers in the City. All industries are also being advised to control pollution from diesel
generating sets. They have been asked to increase the stack height to a level of 2-3 meters above their
building height and also take acoustic measures to reduce the noise level from diesel generating sets.

3. WRONG EATING/SLEEPING
HABITS
This is the main cause of various malnutrition related problem. Here it also leads to decrease in
disease fighting blocks of our body. When such system of bodies are affected it causes huge
problems.
3.1 Eating habits-It is often thought that Indians are eating better over the years including more
dairy products, eggs and meat, fruits and vegetables in their diet. A recent survey searched for
evidence of this and came up with some strange, even worrying, findings. In the past two decades,
India's eating habits have changed while the nutritional level seems to be the same. Across the board,
people are eating less cereals, replacing them with more fat and snacks, beverages and other processed
foods. Protein consumption has declined in rural areas and remained the same in urban areas.
The average calorific value of food consumed was 2,099 kilocalories (Kcal) per person per day in
rural areas and 2,058 Kcal in urban areas in 2011, according to the survey report released last week by
the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). This is less than the nutritional value in 1993-94,
when a similar survey had found the levels at 2,153 in rural areas and 2,099 in urban areas. The
recommended calorie intake for Indians set by the National Institute of Nutrition, ICMR, is 2,320
Kcal per day for a man aged 18-29 years weighing 60kg and doing sedentary work. The Planning
Commission had set a norm of 2,400 Kcal per person per day for the rural sector and 2,100 Kcal for
the urban sector.
3.2 Sleeping habits-Numerous psychosocial and biological factors including academic work load,
internet usage for social networking, environmental disturbances like the increased light intensity and
noise level are affecting the sleep patterns of Indian youths.
These revelations were made by professor Biotechnology, Amity University, Noida, Dr Manju
Pathak. Dr Pathak referred the findings of her recent studies on the 'Habits of Less Sleep in Indian
Young Adult Males and Females: A Threat to Brain Behaviour.' She said majority of the population,
85.4%, use Facebook for social networking and 32.7% of the population reported that that they do not
get enough sleep due to academic workload. Around 22% of the population reported that increased
light intensity by room mate in the room disturbs their sleep and around 20.9% said noise in the hostel
affects their sleep. Nearly 32% of the people reported difficulty in sleeping after waking up once
during sleep in night. Medications to help sleep are taken by 1.5% of the population. The value of this
study is the confirmation of adolescent sleep deprivation in urban Indian adolescents. Indeed it has
been shown that such sleep inadequacy as found in these urban Indian youth is the same in a wide
variety of culturally and geographically different populations. Correlation of findings using uniformly
consistent methodologies in future studies would help to further define and characterize this
adolescent inadequacy of sleep pandemic.

4.HEALTH REPORT OF VARIOUS

METROPOLITAN ACROSS THE
GLOBE

metropolitan regions performance in terms of health, indicating life expectancy figures

Since 1990, the United Nations Development Programme has been tracking the socioeconomic
performance of nations using the Human Development Index (HDI), a composite indicator that
measures education, health and living standards. In order to better understand the dynamics of health
and well-being at the metropolitan level (rather than at the national level), LSE Cities has recalibrated
available data for 129 urban areas.
High-income Asian and West European areas achieve their highest scores in health with Hong Kong
at the top while Sydney and North American areas tend to score higher in education and wealth than
in health. Chinese and Indian metropolitan regions tend to score much lower in education than they do
in either health or wealth, while this trend is reversed in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the large majority
score lowest in health. These patterns indicate that the level of performance of metropolitan regions is
tightly linked to the level of development and welfare regime of the nation in which they exist.

5.FAST PACED LIFE

This has been one of most important reason of the prevailing health related issues in metro cities,
diabetes , high bp , heart related problems. Demanding schedules, high stress levels and performance
linked perquisites in private sectors, nearly 42.5% of employees in private sectors are afflicted from
depression or general anxiety disorder, compared to government employees with lesser levels of
psychological demand at work, an ASSOCHAM study coinciding with the World Health day noted.
The report included the major cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai,
Ahmedabad, Hyderabd, Pune, Chandigarh, Dehradun etc. A little over 200 employee were selected
from each city on an average. Delhi ranks first afflicted from depression or general anxiety disorder
followed by Bangalore (2nd), Mumbai (3rd), Ahemdabad (4th) Chandigarh (5th), Hyderbad (6th ) and
Pune (7th ). As per ASSOCHAMs corporate employees survey result, around 42.5% of the sample
population are suffering from depression or general anxiety. Obesity is the second hard hit disease
that was observed among the respondents, with 23% of the sample corporate employees suffering
from obesity alone can modify occupational morbidity, mortality and injury risks that can further
affect workplace absence, disability, productivity and healthcare costs. High blood pressure (B.P) and
diabetes are the third and fourth largest disease with a share of 9 per cent and 8 per cent respectively
as suffered among the corporate employees. Spondolysis (5.5 per cent), heart disease (4 per cent),
cervical (3.0 per cent), asthma (2.5 per cent), slip disk (1 per cent) and arthritis (1.5 per cent) are the
diseases that are mostly suffered by corporate employees.
"Corporate employees have to survive the stiff global competitive environment to save their jobs,
adding pressure on their health, leading to silent diseases," said Mr. D S Rawat, Secretary General
ASSOCHAM while releasing the survey.
Increasingly demanding schedules and high stress levels are leading to depression or general anxiety
disorders in individual lives and have wide ranging effects like daytime fatigue, physical discomfort,
psychological stress, performance deterioration, low pain threshold and increased absenteeism. Nearly
38.5% of corporate employees sleep less than 6 hours in a day due to high stressed levels that arise
out of tough targets set for themselves by employers and cause diseases like depression, hypertension,
sugar etc.,
In terms of the physical fitness, it was found that around 57% of the employees in the private
organization said they 'do not exercise at all', 23% do physical workout devoting less than 1
hour/week, 12 %of the employees exercise for 1-3 hours/week, 8% of employees exercise for 3-6
hours/week and merely 7% stay fit by exercising for more than 6 hours/week. The majority of the
government employee said that they 'do exercise' and physical workout to stay fit by exercising for
more than 8 hours/week.The paper indicates that dedicated workout (exercise) can delay or prevent
diabetes, some cancers and heart problems. It even reduces feelings of depression and anxiety.
However, lack of exercise may increase risk factor for developing headaches.
As per the ASSOCHAM findings, about 48% of respondents said that they feel fatigue on regular
basis due to general anxiety and close to 27% of participants in the survey admit that they suffer from
regular headache.

6.HOW TO MAINTAIN HEALTHY

LIFESTYLE
6.1Choose Healthy Foods

Choose food that contains minimal amounts of unhealthy fats. Unhealthy fats include both trans
fats and saturated fats. These fats will raise your LDL cholesterol, and elevated LDL cholesterol often
correlates with an increased risk for heart disease.
Eat healthy fats in moderation. Poly-unsaturated, mono-unsaturated and omega-3 fats are all good
lifestyle choices.These good fats lower your LDL cholesterol and raise your HDL cholesterol, which
correlates with decreased risk for heart disease.
Select foods that are low in both sugar and highly refined carbohydrates. Minimize your
consumption of sweets, soft drinks, sugary fruit juices and white bread. Choose whole fruits, freshlysqueezed juices and whole grain bread instead.
Eat a variety of different whole foods instead of eating processed foods.

Eat fruits and vegetables for their high vitamin and mineral content.
Choose lean meat, beans and tofu for their protein content.
Enjoy whole grains such as whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, brown rice and quinoa.
Eat low-fat dairy products. Skim milk and reduced fat cheeses will reduce your fat intake
while ensuring that you receive enough calcium.

6.2 Exercise regularly

Start and finish your workout with stretching. Gentle stretching will warm up your muscles before
you work out and will relax your muscles after you work out. It helps in loosening up your muscles,
so that you wake up without any tight muscles.
Exercise in your neighborhood. Go for a jog or take your dog for a walk. Make sure that you move
at a moderate pace for at least 30 minutes. A breakthrough from daily work is must.
Enjoy rigorous daily activities. Both high-intensity gardening and housekeeping can exercise your
body.
Ditch your car. Walk or bike to your destination instead. Plus it helps in preventing pollution.

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6.3 Unhealthy Habits

Avoid yo-yo dieting. Once you've lost weight thanks to your improved lifestyle, then work hard to
maintain your weight instead of cycling up and down the scale.
Stay away from fad diets. Avoid liquid diets, diet pills and other diet supplements unless you are
under the supervision of a physician.
Exercise in moderation. Working out too long, too often or with too much intensity can increase
your risk for injury. Make sure to build in some rest periods between your workouts.
Know what you weigh. Being overweight and being underweight are not healthy states of being.
Consult your doctor or a reputable weight chart that shows ideal weights for your age and body type.
Avoid excessive smoking and alcohol intake. It leads to various health , socio-economic problems.
Get plenty of sleep. Studies have shown that those who sleep less tend to weigh more, more fatigued,
inactive.

7.REDUCING STRESS
Stress can cause or worsen symptoms of mania or depression. It is important to learn what causes
your stress, ways to identify and deal with stressors, and ways to minimize your day-to-day stress
level. Stress may be caused by a variety of factors, both external and internal, some of which you may
not be aware of. Repeated or constant stress can lead to tension, chronic pain, anxiety, and an inability
to enjoy life.
Some remedies are:
Recognizing and Handling Causes of Stress
Communication
Relaxation
Walking
Listening to music
Light exercise, such as dancing or bicycling
Breathing, muscle tension, or visualization exercises. These involve taking deep breaths and
concentrating on your breathing; or tensing, then relaxing muscle groups one by one, from toes to
head; or visualizing a calm, safe, stress-free place. Ask a therapist for suggestions or instructions.
Meditation or yoga, Music, Art
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CONCLUSION
This report addressed lifestyle in metro cities from various
perspectives. Here we observe various causes of unhealthy living.
This may be related to pollution, fast paced life and wrong habits.
We also need to think of possible ways to deviate from such type of
lifestyle, to prevent ourselves from future consequences. Physical and
psychological methods need to be worked upon .Which include
distraction, mindfulness , suppression, substitution and meditation.
Self control also becomes an important method to realise the
importance of calmness and peace in life. We need to think of
devising our own methods to live a balanced life.

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REFRENCES
WIKIHOW
http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Bad-Habits
http://www.wikihow.com/Live-a-Healthy-Lifestyle

TIMES OF INDIA
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Indias-eating-habits-may-have-changed-but-not-nutritionlevels/articleshow/45655606.cms

ASSOCHAM INDIA
http://www.assocham.org/newsdetail.php?id=4918

LSECities
http://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/measuring-metropolitan-well-being/en-gb/

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)

http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=wellness_brochures_healthy_lifestyles

PLANNING DEPARTMENT
http://www.delhi.gov.in/wps/wcm/connect/doit_planning/Planning/Economic+Survey+of+Dehli/Cont
ent/Environmental+Concerns

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