Those working in high-tech industries are 50 percent more prone to developing cardiovascular diseases within 10 years than the general population, the results of a recent survey have shown.
The research was conducted by the Taiwan Society of Lipids and Atherosclerosis, which surveyed about 1,000 people who work in the nation’s science parks.
The study showed that the proportion of high-tech workers who had hyperlipidemia, or a high level of lipids in the blood, was three times higher than the general population, society secretary-general Ho Yi-lwun (何奕倫) said.
Of those surveyed who were more than 40 years old, 30 percent had abnormal levels of lipids in their blood, 53 percent were overweight and 24 percent were classed as obese, Ho said.
“[High-tech workers] have low levels of good cholesterol and high levels of bad cholesterol,” he said.
“Good cholesterol” refers to high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), while “bad cholesterol” means low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL). HDL is good for the body because it acts as the “cleaning maid of the arteries” by increasing blood flow, while high levels of LDL can lead to cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary artery disease, Ho said.
Recently, the medical world has begun to place more importance on the ratio of total cholesterol (TC) to HDL and ideally it should be less than five to one, said Chien Kuo-liong (簡國龍), the attending physician at National Taiwan University Hospital’s Department of Internal Medicine.
However, the survey showed that more than 60 percent of male high-tech workers aged between 40 and 49 had TC-HDL ratios of more than five to one — meaning that they are at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and may not even be aware of it, Chien said.
“People who work in high-tech industries are under a lot of stress, work long hours, get little exercise and have less time to watch what they eat,” Ho said.
The doctors urged those who are under a lot of stress at work, such as those who work in the high-tech industry, to find time to exercise, avoid eating fried foods and to quit alcohol and cigarettes.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS