But the majority manage to get at least 6 hours, as you can see in the list below detailing the sleep habits of 10 highly successful people: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX: 6 hours (1am — 7am) Tim Cook, CEO of Apple: 7 hours (9:30pm — 4:30am) Bill Gates, Co-Founder of Microsoft: 7 hours (12am — 7am)
“Same with everybody else, whether we admit it or not.” Indeed, it's recommended that adults get seven or more hours of sleep a night, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Generally, high achievers tend to sleep less, Brager tells CNET. "If you look at US presidents, successful CEOs and military leaders, many report sleeping little but feeling fine and don't need stimulants to stay awake," she says. "Daily sleep needs fall along the bell curve like most physiological processes in nature.
Elon Musk says he is "fairly nocturnal" and only sleeps about six hours a day. The world's richest man made the comments during an August 5 episode of The Full Send podcast. He said he usually goes to sleep at about 3 a.m. and wakes up after about six hours at 9 a.m. or 9:30 a.m.
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.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is so productive that it seems like he doesn't sleep. As it turns out, he doesn't. The actor and former WWE wrestling star told Variety that he gets just three to five hours a night. “The only thing that's regimented is I have to wake up before the sun gets up," he said.
Jeff Bezos has revealed his optimal sleep time in order to be the best he can at his job. The Amazon mogul's success is seen as the ultimate goal for entrepreneurs. "I get eight hours of sleep a night.
10 HOURS OF SLEEP AND ONE-SECOND NAPS
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).
Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla never slept for more than 2 hours a day. Much like Da Vinci, Tesla followed the Uberman Sleep Cycle, and claimed to have never slept more than 2 hours a day. He once reportedly worked for 84 hours straight in a lab without any rest.
Successful entrepreneurs, including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett, prioritise rest and swear by seven to eight hours of peaceful sleep. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, reportedly wakes up at five every morning, while Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, rises at 5:45 am.
Less sleep lowers IQ scores and grades
According to Coren, scores on intelligence tests decline cumulatively on each successive day that you sleep less than you normally sleep. The daily decline is approximately one IQ point for the first hour of sleep loss, two for the next, and four for the next.
Studies show that night owls and those who wake up later actually are smarter and more creative than their early rising counterparts. They also have higher IQs according to The Independent. Unfortunately, night owls have slightly lower academic scores than early risers (by about 8%).
He says he likes getting around six to six-and-a-half hours of sleep per night. Sleeping in is not an option for him, saying it affects his performance more than if he sleeps less. After getting up, he showers, dresses, and enjoys a morning cup of coffee.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX: 6 hours (1am — 7am) Tim Cook, CEO of Apple: 7 hours (9:30pm — 4:30am) Bill Gates, Co-Founder of Microsoft: 7 hours (12am — 7am) Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group: 5–6 hours (12–5/6am)
Donald Trump
Well, these odd-hour posts can be explained by how little the president sleeps. Donald Trump claims to only clock 3 hours of shut eye per night, a quantity far below normal for successful people (and us normal people too).
For da Vinci's possible adoption of this practice, Claudio Stampi writes in his 1992 book, "Why We Nap": "One of his secrets, or so it has been claimed, was a unique sleep formula: he would sleep 15 minutes out of every four hours, for a daily total of only 1.5 hours of sleep.
Einstein Slept Only 3 Hours a Year.
Leonardo da Vinci's sleep schedule included 20-minute naps every four hours. Da Vinci followed an extreme form of a polyphasic sleep schedule called the Uberman sleep cycle, which consists of 20-minute naps every four hours.
Other weird records
Previously, Peter Tripp held the first record at 201 hours and suffered from hallucinations for several days after. Between Peter and Randy, Honolulu DJ Tom Rounds made it to 260 hours. Randy tapped out at 264 hours, and slept for 14 hours straight after.
The longest time a human being has gone without sleep is 11 days and 25 minutes. The world record was set by … American 17-year-old Randy Gardner in 1963.
Short sleepers are a rarity. While most people need around eight hours of sleep to be in tip-top shape, short sleepers need only between four and six hours to function just as well. They don't need naps or long weekend snoozes to catch up.
In an August 2022 episode of FULL SEND PODCAST, however, Musk shares that he's now even more nocturnal than ever, sleeping at 3AM and waking up at 9 or 9:30AM. Just like before, this grants him a grand total of six (or six and a half) hours of sleep.