Hi!
More on sleep…..
Do you know how important it is to get enough sleep? Apart from looking good and dispensing smiles full of sunshine, your health is at stake. No, let me amend that… your life is at stake!
I want to share with you what I read yesterday, an article forwarded by a friend.
Recently, a well-known corporate leader in India died of a heart attack. Although he was an exceptionally active, athletic person, he succumbed to heart attack at 42 years of age.
Stress was ruled out as a possible cause as he was known to be in control of his stress levels.
So what was the real reason?
In an interview on TV, he had admitted that he only made do with 4-5 hours of sleep and that he would like to be able to get more sleep.
A well-known cardiologist on the subject of ‘Heart Disease caused by Lack of Sleep’. has shared the following key points hoping it will save some lives and I’m quoting here:
· Short sleep duration ( <5 or 5-6 hours ) increases risk for high Blood Pressure 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 have a 3-fold increased risk of heart attacks. Paper published in 1999.
· Complete and partial lack of sleep increases 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 the body such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumour Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-alpha) and C-reactive protein (cRP). These increase risks of many medical conditions, including cancer, arthritis and heart disease. Paper published in 2004.
· Sleeping for <=5 hours per night leads to a 39% increase in heart disease. Sleeping for <=6 hours per night leads to an18% increase in heart disease. Paper published in 2006.
What then is the amount of sleep that one should get?
Sleep has two stages: REM ( Rapid Eye Movement ) and non-REM. REM 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.
Thus it is not surprising that when you wake up to an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of sleep, you are mentally irritable throughout the day and if you have slept for less than 5 hours, your body is in a complete physical mess. This is due to the lack of non-REM sleep. You are tired throughout the day, moving like a zombie and your immunity is way down.
If you are a long-distance runner, you will need an hour of extra sleep to repair the running related damage.
Barring stress control, Ranjan Das did everything right: eating proper food, exercising ( marathoning! ), maintaining proper weight. However, he missed getting proper and adequate sleep, a minimum 7 hours. That killed him.
If you are not getting enough sleep ( at least 7 hours ), you are endangering your health, even if you have low stress.
When it comes to missing sleep, many of us are guilty, perhaps out of ignorance, or perhaps of our lifestyle or because of insomnia.
So if you do not want to drop dead of a sudden heart attack and grieve your family, make sure you get your beauty sleep every night.
Cheers!
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