Did you know that Elon Musk and Barack Obama have the same sleep schedule? They both sleep for six hours every day, going to bed at 1am and waking up at 7am. Makes you wonder if there’s something special about those numbers, huh?
I bet you heard some people saying that sleep is a waste of time. Thomas Edison (the inventor of the light bulb) and Leonardo da Vinci (the famous painter of Mona Lisa) both considered sleep a waste of time. Others consider sleep essential for productivity. Albert Einstein slept for 10 hours at night and still took naps during the day.
The general scientific consensus is that sleep is essential to maintain good health. Lots of things impact the quality of sleep, like diet, stress, and the quality of the mattress we sleep on. Lots of people claim that getting the best mattress they could afford helped them get better sleep, but many others have problems sticking to a “normal” sleeping regimen no matter what they do – but surprisingly, without any serious health consequences.
Here are some weird facts about some famous people and their sleeping habits.
- Calvin Coolidge (the 30th US President) holds the record for the President with the most sleep hours in the White House. He slept 8 hours a night and 2-3 hours in the afternoon.
- Tom Cruise sleeps in a sound-proof snoratorium because of his loud snoring.
- Mariah Carey sleeps around 15 hours a day (twice the average person).
- Lady Gaga sleeps inside of the egg she used for the performance of her hit single “Born this way.”
- Jessica Simpson can fall asleep anywhere but her bed.
- Jimmy Kimmel is narcoleptic (sleep disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable episodes of deep sleep).
- Michael Phelps sleeps inside a pressurized chamber comparable to a height of about 9000 ft.
Some Sleep Concepts
- Monophasic Sleep
Monophasic sleep is the practice of having only one period of sleep over 24 hours. It was adopted by Sigmund Freud, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Tim Armstrong. It is the type of sleep mostly used by the average people.
- Biphasic Sleep
Biphasic sleep is the practice of sleeping during two periods over 24 hours. It was practiced by Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister.
- Polyphasic Sleep
Polyphasic sleep refers to sleeping multiple times (usually more than two) within 24 hours. Thomas Edison, Thomas Jefferson, and Eleanor Roosevelt were polyphasic sleepers. Buckminster Fuller practiced a form of polyphasic sleep (Dymaxion sleep) in which he slept two hours a day for two years and felt “vigorous” and “alert”.
- The Da Vinci sleep schedule
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.
- The Uberman sleep schedule
The Uberman sleep schedule is a sleep schedule consisting entirely of 20-minute naps, spaced the same distance apart throughout the day. In its traditional form, the Uberman sleep schedule is 6 equidistant naps throughout each day. This sleep routine was practiced by Nikola Tesla and Matt Mullenweg.
- Insomnia
Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or to remain asleep long enough to feel rested, especially when this is a problem that continues over time. The following famous people suffer(ed) from the condition: William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Emily Brunt, Tallulah Bankhead, W. C. Fields, Madonna, Florence Welch.
- Parasomnia
Parasomnia is a disorder characterized by abnormal or unusual behavior of the nervous system during sleep. Mary Shelley, the English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein, suffered from parasomnia.
