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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Modern research suggests that sleeping twice in a 24-hour period (a sleep pattern that is alternately referred to as biphasic sleep, segmented sleep, or siesta sleep) may facilitate greater energy levels, alertness, cognitive function, and productivity.
Leonardo da Vinci, who functioned on two hours of sleep a day while painting the Mona Lisa, followed a form of polyphasic sleep schedule called the Uberman sleep cycle, which involves 20-minute naps every four hours.
His performance beats those of physicists Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein, who were both estimated to have IQs around 160.
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).
In the resulting book, Einstein at Home, Waldow claims, "Herr Professor always ate fried eggs, at least two," almost every morning. According to her, he loved mushrooms as well as honey.
In 1959, UK hypnotist Peter Powers put himself under a hypnotic sleep for eight straight days.
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.
People who regularly experience broken sleep are crankier, angrier, and more likely to be depressed than those who sleep through the night. In fact, a night of uninterrupted sleep is much worse for your mood than a shorter night's sleep.
For millennia, people slept in two shifts – once in the evening, and once in the morning. But why?
Typically, they went to sleep three hours and 20 minutes after sunset and woke before sunrise. And they slept through the night. The result of these sleep patterns: Nearly no one suffered from insomnia. In none of their languages is there even a word for insomnia.
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.
Napoleon ate his meals quickly and in silence – a meal rarely lasted longer than twenty minutes. His favourite meal was roast chicken with fried potatoes and onions. Napoleon was a workaholic who would sleep for only three or four hours a night.
What Counts as a Power Nap? Some experts say the power nap should be even shorter — 20 minutes max. But all agree it shouldn't exceed 30 minutes. That's because the body enters a deep sleep around that time, and waking up from a deep sleep can lead to grogginess, according to the Sleep Foundation.
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.
On average, he gets between four and five hours of sleep per night. Want to know how he manages? Keep reading to find out more about Donald Trump's sleep schedule.