Oxstones Investment Club™Many people who work with startup companies say that entrepreneurs are among the healthiest people they know. The reason, they note, may relate to the disciplined and driven personalities required for entrepreneurship, along with the flexible work schedules self-employment allows.
But I know a different startup story. Most of my friends are men who graduated from Stanford in the past few years, which is to say, most of my friends are entrepreneurs. And many have dropped off the map for long stretches of time, only to resurface looking awful, with bags under their eyes and shoulders hunched under the weight of so much responsibility. I have long wondered if my friends were the exception or the rule.
A new analysis conducted by Gallup-Healthways for The New York Times using data from their Well-Being Index, which assesses everything from physical and emotional health to dietary habits and life purpose, paints a paradoxical picture. Nationwide, entrepreneurs tend to eat more healthful foods and exercise more than other workers. But they also have more stress and are less likely to have health insurance.
The data come from random telephone interviews with more than 200,000 employed Americans across all 50 states, conducted on most days from January 2012 through June 2013. Entrepreneurs, defined as both “self-employed” and “business owners,” made up about 3 percent of the sample, though the data is not separated by type of small business owner or number of years in business.
Diet emerged as entrepreneurs’ greatest health advantage. Compared with other full-time or part-time workers, self-employed business owners were slightly more likely to report they “ate healthy all day yesterday” or regularly eat fruits and vegetables. Fifty-nine percent of entrepreneurs reported they exercise for 30 minutes three or more days per week, versus 54 percent of other workers; and 19 percent reported being obese, compared with 25 percent of other workers.
“Believe it or not, everyone’s not living off high-sodium ramen,” said Joey Pomerenke, co-founder of UP Global, a support organization for entrepreneurs that was launched in Seattle in May. He has worked with hundreds of company founders during his career and says “there’s a level of freedom you don’t have at a corporation” that makes it easier to be active and eat well, and to create a healthy work culture when building a company from scratch. UP Global’s employee handbook encourages employees to take advantage if “the snow is deep” or “the lake is calling” and to make up work later.
But Dan MacCombie, a co-founder of Runa, a Brooklyn-based beverage company, said the need to reassure investors of one’s commitment can complicate the health picture. He described a “martyr complex” among many entrepreneurs he knows, “the implicit expectation that if you’re not wearing yourself a little thin you’re not putting enough effort in.” He puts a personal priority on sleep, while his business partner “will go out of his way to cook an elaborate, veggie-heavy meal because he believes that’s important.”
A new, nationwide online training group called Minimum Viable Fitness was designed specifically to address the unique challenges of people working in the tech industry. It was co-founded by Julie Fredrickson, who saw her health plummet when she started her first company and, as a chief executive, “put on 25 pounds, had terrible habits and was exhausted all the time,” she said. “And I grew up as a competitive athlete in Colorado.” She and co-founder Dick Talens explained that the scarce breaks and frequent travel required of tech entrepreneurs, along with catered lunches and schmoozing over cocktails, often result in decision fatigue when it comes to diet and exercise.
Entrepreneurship certainly has its upsides. Entrepreneurs are more optimistic about their futures than other workers, according to an earlier Gallup analysis of the Well-Being Index conducted last fall and optimism is correlated with good health in some studies. The same analysis found they are also more likely to experience enjoyment and intellectual stimulation on a daily basis.
But entrepreneurs also report more stress and worry than other workers do, and slightly more sadness, both of which have been tied to worse health. Edward Marks, co-founder of a mobile app company called Twist, said that, unlike being an employee, “so much of your self-worth is actually invested in a company. I’ve seen entrepreneurs cry.”
Lack of health insurance may deepen entrepreneurs’ stress. Three-fourths of self-employed business owners reported having health insurance, compared with 9 in 10 among other workers — the most significant difference between the two groups. (Likely related, entrepreneurs are also less likely to visit the dentist.)
“One of the biggest reasons a would-be entrepreneur doesn’t become one is lack of health care,” said Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, which provides startup mentorship and resources and conducts research on entrepreneurs’ needs. To address this problem, his organization is introducing StartupInsurance, an online platform of health insurance plans offered by major health insurers, which will be compliant with the Affordable Care Act by 2014 and are tailored for entrepreneurs.
The net effect of all the differences is that slightly fewer entrepreneurs report being diagnosed with health problems like high cholesterol and high blood pressure. But stress remains a constant, and too often ignored, factor in the lives of self-employed business owners, said Carter Coberley, vice president of the Healthways Center for Health Research. He said these “motivated go-getters” either “choose not to pay attention to the stress or are so focused on making their work succeed that unfortunately they ignore it to their detriment.”
“I think that’s a picture that’s been missing in the workforce over all,” he added. “But it appears to be exacerbated in small business owners because of additional demands.”
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/the-health-tradeoffs-of-entrepreneurship/
Tags: being active, diet, entrepreneurship, Gallup-Healthways, health insurance, healthy work culture, self-employment, stress, tech industry