Important: Sleeplessness and Heart Attacks

[Guest guest]

What killed Ranjan Das

and Lessons for Corporate India

 

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 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 (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. Interpretation:

Score of 0-9 is considered normal while 10 and above abnormal. Many a times, I

have clocked 21 out the maximum possible 24, the only saving grace being the

last situation, since I don’t like to drive (maybe, I should ask my driver to

answer that line J) 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. Thanks & Regards,Sudhir SrinivasanB.Arch, Dip.ID, Dip.CAD, Dip.PM, AIIA, IIID, ARIAI| Architect |