2010/1/15 ss <[email protected]>: > Famous last words.. > > shiv
+1 Having seen people burn out, and one former employee of a company I used to work for being admitted to a mental institution due to stress and not getting enough sleep, I try and get at least 6-7 hours of sleep daily, though it is irregular sometimes. If you still need convincing, a forward I got some time ago concerning Ranjan Das, former CEO of SAP India is a good eye-opener. Note: It is one of the many emaill forwards one gets, and I doubt some of the points are based on research. The doctors on the list can validate. Shiv? Half 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 couple of days after Diwali, on 21st Oct, he returned home from his gym after a workout, collapsed with a massive heart attack and died. He has a wife and two very young kids. 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. 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- 807ecfcf1ad96603 6c289b3ba6c376f2 530d7484. 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 interacting with a well-known cardiologist on a talk about ‘Heart Disease caused by Lack of Sleep’. While I cannot share the video nor the slides, I have distilled the key points below. Some Excerpts: Short sleep duration (<5 ) increased risk for high BP by 350% to 500% compared to those who slept longer than 6 hours per night. Paper published in 2009. 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 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 of sleep, you are still 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 If you want to know if you are getting adequate sleep, take Epworth Sleepiness Test below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epworth_sleepiness_scale Interpretation: Score of 0-9 is considered normal while 10 and above abnormal.
