Envisioning 2.0

Given my age, some might look at me and wonder why the topic of end of life care would be important to me.  However, it is. I see my elders aging and (since witnessing the September 11th attacks first-hand) contemplate my own mortality regularly.  This is why I am happy to support the Engage With Grace project.

According to USA Today, Engage With Grace is designed to make “one of life’s most difficult discussions easier by boiling it down to five talking points on a single, easily e-mailed and linked slide that can be shared during business events, long car rides and family dinners.”

Before learning about this project, I have had conversations with my loved ones about developing a living will.  It’s hard to contemplate the end of my life, but it is a worthwhile conversation to have.  Take the time to download the Engage With Grace slide and share it with others you care about.  Together, we can improve end of life care so and make it as positive as humanly possible.”

Last year, I wrote a blog post regarding Nobel Prize winner James Watson’s remarks about the intelligence of people of African descent.  Overall, I didn’t expect the post to generate a great deal of attention, as I wrote it in order to get an issue that had been bothering me off my chest.  I was pleased to see that a few other bloggers and pharmaceutical marketing publications picked up the post and commented on my thoughts.

However, the blog post generated more than words.  Last year, John Mack, author of the Pharma Marketing Blog, approached me with an idea: What if we took some steps to highlight the accomplishments of African Americans and other minority groups in the life sciences?  I was immediately intrigued by the idea, as it was a direct response to my request that we “show people why they are wrong by citing examples of the quiet, unheralded contributions Blacks are making in business, science, education, law and other areas.”  Mack also introduced me to Craig DeLarge of Novo Nordisk, who agreed to participate in the project.

Today, I am proud to announce that we have launched a blog, “Life Sciences Profiles of Color,” which is designed to:

-Highlight the achievements and contributions of people of color in the Life Sciences industry, and

-Encourage and inspire young professionals and students who are considering a career in our industry.

To make this project a success we need your help, please consider:

-Submitting your story and granting us permission to post your image and responses on this blog

-Recommending others you think should be featured on this blog

-Sharing news about this blog with your colleagues throughout the industry

Over time, we hope to expand our efforts by creating opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds to communicate, network and collaborate.

I hope you’ll take the time to learn more about the Life Sciences Profiles of Color project.  We are looking forward to hearing from you.  To learn more about the blog and the project, please click here.

Roger Ekirch wrote a great essay that was published in this Sunday’s New York Times focusing on how we sleep today versus in the past. It seems recent reports that sales of sleep aids like Ambien and Lunesta are soaring inspired him to write this article.

Ekirch asserts that we’ve never slept better and that we may be “running too quickly to the medicine cabinet.” Incidentally, Ekirch wrote an intriguing book (which is on my list of must-reads) titled, “At Day’s Close: Night In Times Past,” focusing on how people slept before the Industrial Age. In his essay, Ekirch suggests that:

“Until the modern age, most households had two distinct intervals of slumber, known as ‘first’ and ‘second’ sleep, bridged by an hour or more of quiet wakefulness. Usually, people would retire between 9 and 10 o’clock only to stir past midnight to smoke a pipe, brew a tub of ale or even converse with a neighbor.”

The notion that people in times past experienced segmented sleep patterns is surprising to me. Most of us have come to expect uninterrupted sleep, most of not all nights of the week. Needless to say, if we aren’t sleeping enough, we don’t like it very much.

This notion of first and second sleep is interesting. I’d love to try it. However, according to Ekirch, I’d have a hard time doing so. He suggests that modern lighting has an adverse impact on sleep. He notes that Harvard chronobiologist Charles A Czeisler has “likened lighting to a drug in its physiological effects, producing among other changes, altered levels of melatonin, the brain hormone that helps to regulate our circadian clock.” In short, this means that modern lighting disturbs our ability to sleep soundly and peacefully.

So, is Ekirch correct? Are we over-medicating ourselves in the pursuit of an uninterrupted night’s sleep? I don’t suffer from insomnia, but I know people who do. I don’t know if they would agree with Ekirch about the benefits of segmented sleep. They simply want to get some rest. Given this, they view sleep aids like Ambien and Lunesta as life-savers.

On another note, there’s a benefit of segmented sleep that I was very surprised to learn about. According to Ekirch some people in between first and second sleep:

“[R]emained in bed to pray or make love. This time after the first sleep was praised as uniquely suited for sexual intimacy; rested couples have ‘more enjoyment’ and ‘do it better,’ as one 16-th century French doctor wrote.”

If segmented sleep once again became the norm, could it give the “little blue pill” some competition? Who knows? Maybe some sleep researcher should develop a study testing this hypothesis. I’d love to see the results.