health FROM THE HEART DOC

health

A Deep and Dreamy Sleep

Your snooze time has a huge bearing on your heart as well as your
overall health. Here’s the lowdown
SLEEP HAS ALWAYS been a somewhat magical state with
MY TOP TIP a mysterious purpose. In Hindu scripture, the world itself is
considered the dream of a sleeping Vishnu.
Try to catch
an afternon Why do we need sleep?
nap when you There is no good answer to this question, but it is an ancient
can. Regular biological process. Two stages of sleep, the Rapid Eye
napping Movement (REM) stage, and the Delta-wave, or slow-wave
(three times sleep each have distinctive effects on different types of
a week, 30 memory and decision making. Sleep is also a general healer.
minutes) It promotes the rejuvenation of the immune, skeletal,
decreases the muscular and nervous systems, and a healer of wounds.
risk of coro- QBody Chemistry There is a particularly strong effect of hypertension and type 2 diabetes. cause more sleepiness the next day.
nary disease sleep on body chemistry. The important anabolic (body- QNaps As India lurches towards a more QMelatonin The body creates a chemical
by 37%! building) hormones, growth hormone, and insulin are Westernised life, the mid-afternoon nap called melatonin, which may be a helpful
secreted preferentially during sleep and reduced by poor may become rare. That would be a shame. sleeping aid in certain situations like jet
sleep. Reductions in sleep duration result in prediabetic A study from Greece confirms that lag, shift work, and general insomnia. I
chemistry—even a single disrupted night of sleep can alter regular napping (three times a week, 30 sometimes recommend it, particularly for
insulin response in young, healthy people. Similarly, in minutes) decreased the risk of coronary post-surgical patients.
one’s youth, up to 70% of daily growth hormone is secreted disease by 37%! While some take melatonin nightly
during the deepest part of sleep. With ageing, this decreases and tout it as an anti-ageing cure-all,
with a fall in deep sleep. If we could increase deep sleep in Factors that influence sleep I generally advise my patients to use it
the elderly, we might induce a younger hormonal pattern. QCaffeine In the West, caffeine is one of sparingly in specific settings until we
Exercise and meditation both increase deep sleep. the major culprits in the sleep disruption know more about long-term effects.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: BENN GROVER, EDITOR PROCOR

of modern life— even more so in recent
How much is enough? years. Tea has far less caffeine than coffee.
The amount of sleep one gets seems to correlate with QExercise Aerobic exercise that lasts for
longevity; seven hours is the ‘sweet spot’. A lack of sleep an hour will help you get to sleep and stay
(5 hours or less) more than doubles the risk of cardiac asleep. However, it may take up to three
death while too much (8 hours or more) seems to be weeks for the full effect to be noticeable.
associated with non-cardiac death. Too little sleep QAlcohol Alcohol at night reduces the
BANANASTOCK LTD
For jetlag, the optimal dose appears to
be 5 mg, taken at bedtime in the new
timezone; for insomnia, a dose less than
one-tenth of that (0.3 mg).
QThe bottomline Folk wisdom about the
healing properties of sleep is absolutely
correct. Too often it is neglected by physi-

seems to be a particular risk factor for weight gain, healing benefits of sleep. While people cians in their advice to patients. With a
fall asleep faster, alcohol increases lighter systematic approach and some discipline,
DR VIKAS SAINI is a clinical cardiologist and researcher at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School
of Public Health. He is president of the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation in Boston. Write to him at REM sleep and shortens slow-wave sleep you can improve your sleep, feel better
vikas.s@preventionindia.com and overall sleep time. As a result, it can and live healthier and longer!

00 MAY 2011 PREVENTION PREVENTION MAY 2011 00

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