We all know sleep is important to our health and wellbeing. We know a consistently bad sleep can lead to higher anxiety levels, increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer. But we think sacrificing our sleep in order to have more hours to work is increasing our productivity and therefore our chances at success. But could it be the other way around? Could more sleep make us more productive during those hours in which we are awake? See below to see the intriguing sleeping habits of those people who have already made it to the top of their chosen fields.
- US President Barack Obama reportedly nods off at 1 a.m. and rises at 7 a.m.
- Leonardo Da Vinci took a 20 minute nap every 4 hours
- Entrepreneur Richard Branson sleeps no more than 6 hours per night and is up by 5:45am every day.
- Billionaire property tycoon Donald Trump only sleep 3 hours a night
- Voltaire only slept 4 hours a night and to counter his lack of sleep, drank up to 40 cups of coffee a day.
- But it’s not all about getting up early; some of the greatest and most influential writers of all time didn’t mind a sleep in. Stephen King rose at 8am, Leo Tolstoy at 9am, and F. Scott Fitzgerald the author of The Great Gatsby woke up at 11am.
- Singer and Actress Mariah Carey needs 15 hours of shut-eye per night.
- Rapper Eminem puts tin foil on his windows to keep out the light.
- Writer Charles Dickens slept facing north to improve his creativity.
- Champion swimmer Michael Phelps sleeps in a chamber that’s 8,500 to 9,000 feet above sea level.
- Thomas Edison believed sleep was a waste of time and only slept for three hours a night, sometimes working for 72 hours straight.
- Winston Churchill, the former British prime minister kept an extremely irregular sleeping schedule and was said to have taken two-hour naps very often.
- Tennis star Roger Federer views sleep as one of the most important aspects of his life and concentrates as much on his restorative sleep as he does on hitting the practice court.
There’s is no doubting sleep is important. Of course, when we look at the success of the people above we are overlooking happiness, health, relationships and a whole lot of equally important things. Donald Trump may sleep only 3 hours a night but is he happy? Only you can decide what sleep schedule works best for you and what sleep time leaves you feeling fresh, happy, healthy and content.
(Photo Courtesy of blog.aristotlecircle.com)
