Wake-up call for Ideal Sleep!!!!!!!!!

What is the stress?

A couple of you asking about the reasons. You have 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 you doubt if the cause was stress.

The Evidence With a well-known cardiologist guidance : on the subject of ‘Heart Disease caused by Lack of Sleep’. Here are some of distilled the key points below in the hope it will save some of our lives.

Some Excerpts:

Short sleep duration (less than 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 less than or equal to 5 hours per night leads to 39% increase in heart disease. Sleeping for less than or equal to 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 5-6 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

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. Interpretation:

Score of 0-9 is considered normal while 10 and above abnormal.

In conclusion:
Barring stress control:everything right: eating proper food, exercising (marathoning!), maintaining proper weight. But you missed getting proper and adequate sleep, minimum 7 hours. Will kill you. If you are not getting enough sleep (7 hours), you are playing with fire, even if you have low stress.
You always took pride in my ability to work 50 hours at a stretch whenever the situation warranted. But you were so spooked after seeing the scientific evidence , ensure you do not even set the alarm clock under 7 hours.
Now, that is a good excuse to get some more sleep :):).

Here is a Real Reason example:(watch the Video)

However, everyone missed out a small line to make do with 4-5 hours of sleep 'Boss' Day Out':

http://connect.in.com/ranjan-das/play-video-boss-day-out-ranjan-das-of-sap-india-229111-807ecfcf1ad966036c289b3ba6c376f2530d7484.html

we ourselves admits that we would love to get more sleep (and that it was not proud of his ability to manage without sleep, contrary to what others extolled).
What killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate World:

A short time ago, many of us heard about the sad demise of Ranjan Das. 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 world. 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.