To Conclude. Now, it's evident that not all geniuses have different sleeping patterns and it's also quite evident that some of them do. Ultimately, however, there is no clear link between the time you spend sleeping and your levels of intellect.
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.
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.
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! Don't panic, high IQ or not, cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia can help you.
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.
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.
Staying Up Late
Intelligent people are more likely to have different sleep cycles (or circadian rhythms) than people with a lower IQ. In fact, research indicates that there's a strong correlation between intelligence and bedtime. That is the higher your IQ, the later you'll stay up.
The smarter the person, the faster information zips around the brain, a UCLA study finds. And this ability to think quickly apparently is inherited. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, looked at the brains and intelligence of 92 people. All the participants took standard IQ tests.
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.
Musk wasn't a “chill, normal dude,” as he once joked on “Saturday Night Live.” Mr. Musk has said he usually goes to sleep around 3 a.m. and typically gets six hours of shut-eye before waking and immediately checking his phone for any new emergencies.
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.
Similarly to Margaret Thatcher and especially during the war years, Winston Churchill would only sleep for four to five hours a night. However, in contrast to Thatcher, he would catch up on sleep in the afternoons with a 90 minute nap.
Time may be the most essential commodity you need in becoming successful. Many successful executives admit that they can get by on less sleep and achieve more. While the average person should need between 6-8 hours, successful people think that by sleeping less they can create more hours for themselves to work more.
Faces that are perceived as highly intelligent are rather prolonged with a broader distance between the eyes, a larger nose, a slight upturn to the corners of the mouth, and a sharper, pointing, less rounded chin.
Studies have also found that higher IQ is associated with more mental illness, including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
The smartest people in the office are often the most distracted, according to new research. A new study from Steelcase, a workplace solutions company, surveyed more than 10,000 employees across 17 countries and found the most intelligent workers were often the ones who had problems focusing.
They also have higher IQs according to The Independent. Unfortunately, night owls have slightly lower academic scores than early risers (by about 8%). The reason for all these differences is likely due to the difference in brain chemistry between late night creative types and early morning larks.
Beneath the surface, your body is aging too, and sleep loss can speed up the process. A study done by UCLA researchers discovered that just a single night of insufficient sleep can make an older adults' cells age quicker. This might not seem like a big deal, but it has the potential to bring on a lot of other diseases.
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."
Busy Brains
Gifted kids seem to be able to function quite well with less sleep than their age mates, but they can sometimes have a difficult time getting to sleep. Many kids describe it as being unable to shut off their brains.
A few interesting research studies show that people who have an IQ above an average level use different regions of the brain while solving tasks than people with average IQ scores.
However, the average adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. So, the idea that smart people sleep less may be a myth for most mortals and should not be used as an excuse for skimping on sleep.