New Year resolution for corporate world: More sleep

Two months ago, the news of the sad demise of Ranjan D rocked the corporate world. Ranjan, only 42 years of age, was the CEO of SAP-Indian Subcontinent, the youngest CEO of an MNC in India. He was an active sportsperson, a fitness freak and a marathon runner.

It was  common to see him running on Bandra’s Carter Road, Mumbai. Just after Diwali, on October 21, 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.

The news came as a jolt and rang an alarm bell for corporate India. Ranjan was an avid marathoner - he ran in Chennai Marathon in February this year. The question being asked was why an exceptionally active, athletic person would succumb to a heart attack at the age of 42 years.

While Ranjan himself admitted to having a lot of stress in his life, one can assume that his healthy lifestyle overcame the bad effects of that stress. He also admitted to the lack of adequate sleep, saying that he had to make do with 4-5 hours of sleep and that he would have loved to catch more sleep.

Many top notch CEOs who are ranked among the top 10 business profiles, admit that they sleep less than 3-4 hours a day. A typical life of a top ranking CEO working in a high performance zone would be getting to bed at 2.00-3.00 am and up by 6.00 for gymming before getting to office by 8.00 am.

A day packed with meetings and emails, taking lofty decisions, handling finance, customers, competitors, legal matters, HR issues interchangeably, require agility of mind which is artificially induced by pots of coffee.

Reaching home at 8 pm, a short meal and it is time for the 9.30 pm tele-conference to USA (thanks to the world time zones). Late night networking parties start after 11 pm running into the wee hours of the night.

As studies indicate, lack of sleep can lead to more than one serious disorder. Short sleep duration — less than 5 or 6 hours —  is reported to increase risk for high BP by 350% to 500%. Younger generation is twice as likely to get high BP that is induced by lack of sleep. As is well known, high BP is a killer. According to some medical reports, less than 5 hours of sleep can have a three- fold increased risk of heart attacks.

Complete loss of sleep even for one night can increase toxic contents in the body such as C-reactive protein (cRP), which is known to be the highest predictor of heart attacks.
While most busy executives undergo their routine whole body annual health checks regularly — the HR practices of most big organisations provide annual health checks as a perk - the body liquid profile blood tests gives them indicators of cholesterol and sugar levels in their body.

Their echo and the TMT stress tests check out the condition of the heart and x-rays ensure healthy functioning of other organs of the body. Monitoring optimum hours of sleep has not been given as much importance as it demands.

Along with the New Year resolutions to double and triple sales targets; to multiply the company’s turnover by 2X and the bottom line profit margins by 5X; a personal goal statement for a regimented lifestyle that allows adequate sleep and relaxation; regular health checks and active exercise will make the fruits that corporate life bears, more enjoyable. All of this is undoubtedly common knowledge; however, a rude awakening like the Ranjan D case brings home some haunting lessons.

The writer is  an entrepreneur and educationist