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':
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 L)
Finally,
as long-distance runners, you need an hour of extra sleep to repair the running
related damage.
If you
want to know if you are getting adequate sleep, take
Epworth Sleepiness Test below.
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. J
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.
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