Hypertension and morbidity amongst Indian police personnel

Physical fitness determines the performance of any individual in his day to day life. The main job of policemen is to maintain law & order in the society i.e fitness remains the key factor in their job. Policing involves: shift work, duty tours to areas of conflict, lack of social support, confronting criminals and dangerous situations, continued state of alertness, highly hierarchical system and stress of career development. Due to enormous work stress and poor life style policemen suffer from different physiological, mental and social disorders. Hypertension is a silent killer and policemen have been found to have an increased prevalence of cardiovascular diseases like- hypertension and type 2 diabetes than any other occupational group or general population.There is limited research available and most previous studies have not attempted to measure and compare the impact of various job stressors. Identifying the underlying sources of illness and finding methods to prevent them could have far-reaching health benefits for policemen.