Is work-life balance sheet in the red?

The perennial question - how much is too much - is being raised in the context of executive health and well-being this time, in the aftermath of Zerodha cofounder Nithin Kamath's revelation that he recently suffered a mild stroke. In today's high-endurance corporate culture, where the messaging is all about constantly pushing yourself - at work and outside of it - Kamath's post has spurred soul-searching on how to be well, not just fit.

"What we need to understand is, fitness is not wellness," says Dr Girish B Navasundi, director of cardiology at Apollo Hospitals, Bengaluru. "People tend to associate someone who's very fit with absolutely no disease, or as someone with no vulnerabilities. This is a mindset we need to change."

A high-intensity lifestyle, whether emotional, physical or intellectual, increases vulnerability to sudden events. "The current lifestyle in pursuit of over-performance increases the risk of injury - be it emotional or organ-specific - the most common being heart attack, stroke, premature onset of hypertension and diabetes," he said.


For Agilitas Sports chief executive and cofounder Abhishek Ganguly, himself a fitness aficionado, what Kamath underwent was a reminder that the human body cannot be predicted. Factors such as lack of sleep and over-working also need to be considered while trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. "I know Nithin and I'm aware of how seriously he took fitness, and the culture of fitness he nurtured at Zerodha," he says.

Sleep matters
“It was something I did at Puma, too. But this is a reminder that I might not be ticking all the boxes,” says Ganguly, who is former Puma India managing director. If a company is building a culture based on holistic fitness, for instance, “Are we checking on each other if we are getting seven hours of sleep?”

In his post on X, Kamath, 44, attributed the stroke to “Dad passing away, poor sleep, exhaustion, dehydration and over-working out —any of these could be possible reasons.”

Doctors say lack of sleep is often something people overlook.

“If someone wants to be fit, they should do it at a time when it does not compromise on their sleep,” says Dr Srinivasa Prasad BV, senior consultant of interventional cardiology at Fortis Hospital. “If you hit the gym by cutting back on your sleep, you’re straining your body in two ways: You’re already sleep-deprived and you’re putting your body under stress.”

When we don’t sleep well, our body releases stress hormones called cortisol. This can lead to inflammation of the blood vessels, the heart and, subsequently, to high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, says Dr Khushbu Goel, consultant neurologist, Manipal Hospital.

The social media-fuelled obsession to pursue a certain kind of body shape does not help either, say doctors. “People are more concerned about their physique these days, and exercise with the idea of looking a certain way, without realising the need to do it through a proper channel and after a medical test,” says Dr Prasad.

As with everything else, the key, they say, is moderation — whether in the office or the gym.

“When it comes to being professionally driven, there has to be a limit. You can’t be working 16-18 hours a day, seven days a week. The desire to stay at the top will come at a cost when multiple things are intense,” says Dr Navasundi. “Disease manifests due to imbalance between wear and tear and regeneration, especially for young people.”