nangutana ko ani bai kay nakuawan ko sa gi email sa ako amiga about lack of sleep. mao ni ang content sa email (taas sya but worth reading)
What killed Ranjan Das (CEO of SAP labs) and Lessons for Corporate IndiaDec.02, 2009 in Stress Management, Useful informations, self improvement
A month ago, many of us heard about the sad demise of Ranjan Das from
Bandra, Mumbai. Ranjan, just 42 years of age, was the CEO of SAP-Indian
Subcontinent, the youngest CEO of an MNC in 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, collapsed with a massive heart attack and
died. He is survived by his wife and two very young kids.
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’ Day Out’:
http://connect.in.com/ranjan-das/play-video-boss-day-out-ranjan-das-of-sap-india\-229111-807ecfcf1ad966036c289b3ba6c376f2530d7484.html
Here he himself admits that he would love to get more sleep (and that he was
not proud of his ability to manage without sleep, contrary to what others
extolled).
The Evidence
Last week, I was working with a well-known cardiologist on the subject of
‘Heart Disease caused by Lack of 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 andheart 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 (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 playing 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 to as many of your colleagues 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.
