Studies show if smart people sleep the same amount of time as not-so-smart people. It turns out that smart people are more likely to be able to teach their brains new habits – such as staying up late. Staying up late was very strange to our ancestors.
Albert Einstein
Einstein's sleep habits were said to include 10 hour nightly sleeps, significantly above the average duration for most people, along with daytime naps. All of which effectively means that the world's favourite genius was also a genius sleeper!
Psychology Today reported that intelligent people are likely to be nocturnal beings, with those with a higher IQ going bed later on both weeknights and weekends.
Other great achievers, inventors, and thinkers – such as Nikola Tesla, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Leonardo da Vinci, and Sir Isaac Newton – are said to have slept between two and four hours per day.
Did you know that insomnia is more common for those who have a high IQ. Intelligent people have a harder time switching off their brain. So, maybe you are just too clever to snooze!
Science supports laziness
The data found that those with a high IQ got bored less easily, leading them to be less active and spend more time engaged in thought.
Most Geniuses Perfected the Power Nap
Hence, they'd reduce the time they rest at night in order to have more functional, waking hours. Instead, they'd take advantage of the so-called “power nap”. Both Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison were famous advocates of this principle.
It's common knowledge that sleep is good for your brain – and Einstein took this advice more seriously than most. He reportedly slept for at least 10 hours per day – nearly one and a half times as much as the average American today (6.8 hours).
Elon Musk says he's upped his sleep to 6 hours per night—and that his old routine hurt his brain. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, speaks with CNBC on May 16th, 2023. Elon Musk says his days of trying to sleep less and work more are over — at least, relatively speaking.
Albert Einstein, a household name that has inspired many a crazy hair day and who is most famous for his theory of General Relativity, was a huge fan of catching some Z's. He would sleep an average of 10 hours a night as well as taking daytime naps.
In his blog "A Geek With A Hat," Swizec Teller — a programmer — explains why you can actually concentrate better when your brain is exhausted. He says it's because your brain is so tired, it has to focus. In other words, "there isn't enough left-over brainpower to afford losing concentration."
According to researchers, while a third of the population doesn't have a strongly defined chronotype, 30 percent are ascribed night owls.
Signs of a Genius Brain
Highly gifted or genius individuals typically have more active white matter in their brains. White matter is responsible for the communication between different parts of your brain. Genius brains seem to have a better network of these connections. It results in very quick and complex thinking.
Productivity begins even before the start of the workday. High achievers don't sleep in. Nearly 50 percent of the self-made millionaires begin their days at least 3 hours before the start of their workday.
Geniuses think productively, not reproductively
They tend to come up with many different responses, some of which are unconventional and possibly unique. Leonardo da Vinci believed that to gain deep knowledge about a problem, you have to learn how to restructure it in many different ways.
The thing the job is not known for, however, is a good night's sleep. With various board meetings and no shortage of pressure, rest can be hard to find. CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk get under six hours of sleep each night.
Bill Gates' sleep schedule
Today, Gates regularly gets at least seven hours of sleep per night.
Running one of the world's largest companies doesn't stop Jeff Bezos from getting his eight hours of sleep. While the Amazon founder says sometimes getting eight hours is impossible, he's very focused on it.
Recent studies show that sleeping in multiple phases within a 24-hour period may adversely affect physical and mental health, and it's widely not recommended for most people.
Ancient Sleeping Patterns
During and before the 15th Century, we used to sleep in two shorter periods over 12 hours. Due to a lack of artificial lighting and candlelight, our ancient ancestors went to bed at dusk for around four hours, woke in the middle of the night and were active, then slept again until dawn.
Inventor Nikola Tesla never slept for more than two hours a day. Tesla got more out of the day with his limited sleep schedule. Like Da Vinci, Telsa also followed the Uberman sleep cycle and claimed to never sleep for more than two hours a day and reportedly once worked for 84 hours in a lab without any rest or sleep.
"An hour of sleep less per night causes only a 1 or 2 point reduction in IQ, but cumulative sleep deprivation can effect an IQ reduction of as much as 15 points..."
Although the Uberman sleep cycle is technically a type of sleep schedule, it may not be the best one for regulating your natural circadian rhythm. That's because it's based on random periods of sleep, requiring you to sleep during the day and be awake and active at night.
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