What killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate India

[Guest guest]

Why do we sleep - Why did God create Sleep. Would it not have been good if we did not need to sleep - then we would have had 24 hrs per day to work/enjoy.

May be we do not think about it as sleep is taken for granted. However good nights sleep is very important for healthy living. It is time when our body rebuilds itself and repairs wear and tear of the day. 

Forwarding important article on Sleep/Rest relaxation vs stress and its consequences. Lokesh Bhog Health is Wealth

_______

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

anavid 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 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 lineJ)

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What

killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate India

 

--