Fwd: Sleep Well!!!
OCYMDadarModerator
From: Mathew, Davis <davis....@capgemini.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 2:30 PM
Subject: Sleep Well!!!
To:
Ranjan Das, CEO and MD of SAP Indian subcontinent died after a
massive cardiac arrest in Mumbai on Wednesday.(Oct 21 2009)
One of the youngest CEOs, he was 42.
What killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate India
He was very active in sports, was a fitness
freak and a marathon runner. It was common to see him run on Bandra's Carter
Road . Just after Diwali, on 21st Oct, he returned home from his gym after a
workout, collapse! d with a massive heart attack and died.
It was certainly a wake-up call for corporate India . However, it was even more
disastrous for runners amongst us. Since Ranjan was an avid marathoner ( in Feb
09, he ran Chennai Marathon at the same time some of us were running
Pondicherry Marathon 180 km away ), the question came as to why an
exceptionally active, athletic person succumb to heart attack at 42 years of
age.
Was it the stress?
A couple of you called me asking about the reasons. While Ranjan had mentioned
that he faced a lot of stress, that is a common element in most of our lives.
We used to think that by being fit, one can conquer the bad effects of stress.
So I doubted if the cause was stress.
The Real Reason
However, everyone missed out a small line in the reports that Ranjan used to
make do with 4-5 hours of sleep. This is an earlier interview of Ranjan on NDTV
in the program 'Boss' D! ay Out': Boss' Day Out: Ranjan Das of SAP India .
The Evidence
Last week, I was working with a well-known cardiologist on the subject of
[UTF-8?]‘Heart Disease caused by Lack of [UTF-8?]Sleep’. ! While I cannot
share the video nor the slides because of confidentiality reasons, I have
distilled the key points below in the hope it will save some of our lives.
Some Excerpts:
· Short sleep duration ( <5 or 5-6 hours )
increased risk for high BP by 350% to 500% compared to those who slept longer
than 6 hours per night. Paper published in 2009. As you know, high BP kills.
· Young people ( 25-49 years of age ) are twice as likely to get high BP if
they sleep less. Paper published in 2006.
· Individuals who slept less than 5 hours a night had a 3-fold increased risk
of heart attacks. Paper published in 1999.
· Complete and partial lack of sleep increased the blood concentrations of High
sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-cRP), the strongest predictor of heart
attacks. Even after getting adequate sleep later, the levels stayed high!!
· Just one night of sleep loss increases very toxic substances in body such as Interleukin-6
(IL! -6), Tumour Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-alpha) and C-reactive protein
(cRP). They increase risks of many medical conditions, including cancer,
arthritis and heart disease. Paper published in 2004.
· Sleeping for <=5 hours per night leads to 39% increase in heart disease.
Sleeping for <=6 hours per night leads to 18% increase in heart disease.
Paper published in 2006.
Ideal Sleep
For lack of space, I cannot explain here the ideal sleep architecture. But in
brief, sleep is composed of two stages: REM ( Rapid Eye Movement ) and non-REM.
The former helps in mental consolidation while the latter helps in physical
repair and rebuilding. During the night, you alternate between REM and non-REM
stages 4-5 times.
The earlier part of sleep is mostly non-REM. During that period, your pituitary
gland releases growth hormones that repair your body. The latter part of sleep
is more and more REM type.
For you to be mentally alert during the day, ! the latter part of sleep is more
important. No wonder when you wake up with an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of
sleep, you are mentally irritable throughout the day (lack of REM sleep). And
if you have slept for less than 5 hours, your body is in a complete physical
mess ( lack of non-REM sleep ), you are tired throughout the day, moving like a
zombie and your immunity is way down ( [UTF-8?]I’ve been there, done that ).
Finally, as long-distance runners, you need an hour of extra sleep to repair
the running related damage.
In conclusion:
Barring stress control, Ranjan Das did everything right: eating proper food,
exercising ( marathoning! ), maintaining proper weight. But he missed getting
proper and adequate sleep, minimum 7 hours. In my opinion, that killed him.
If you are not getting enough sleep ( 7 hours ), you
are play(!)ing with fire, even if you have low stress.
I always took pride in my ability to work 50 hours
at a stretch whenever the situation warranted. But I was so spooked after
seeing the scientific evidence last week that since Saturday night, I ensure I
do not even set the alarm clock under 7 hours.
Now, that is a nice excuse to get some more
sleep.
Unfortunately, Ranjan Das is not alone when it comes to missing sleep. Many of
us are doing exactly the same, perhaps out of ignorance. Please forward this
mail/article to as many of your colleagues/friends as possible, especially
those who might be short-changing their sleep. If we can save even one young
life because of this email, I would be the happiest person on earth.
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