Great people who slept little! Incredible habits: how the greatest people in history slept A scientist who slept 4 hours a day.

The famous inventor Thomas Edison slept three or four hours a day; he believed that sleep was a waste of time. Martha Stewart, an expert in planning great parties, sleeps only four to five hours a night. Comedian Jane Lenon only needs five hours of rest, and the millions of TV viewers who can't watch his late-night TV show are only jealous of this habit.

So what is the secret of success? Perhaps it was crazy for them to deprive themselves of a certain amount of sleep. Perhaps they knew something that we don't. After all, they were geniuses. For many people who often face a lot of pressure and busy schedules, these sleep habits can be quite strange.

So find out what were the most bizarre habits in this regard of some of the greatest minds in the world.

How did Winston Churchill sleep?

He only needed a couple of hours for proper rest. Every day at 5 pm the Prime Minister indulged in a light whiskey and soda before going to take a couple of hours nap. Churchill always said that this siesta (or short nap) allowed him to do twice as much work.

Churchill, as you know, was a night owl and often worked at night. Because of his strange schedule, he held meetings in his private office, and sometimes even in the bathroom. The former British Prime Minister, who took to sleeping in different places in the Houses of Parliament, believed in the power of collapse to promote mental development.

Leonardo da Vinci's sleep schedule

This genius rested for only 20 minutes, but this happened every four hours. Da Vinci preferred to follow an extreme formula of polyphasic sleep (Uberman mode), which included 20 minutes of rest every 240 minutes.

This unconventional cycle was perhaps effective in that it gave the artist the opportunity to be more active during his workday. Although many researchers believe that such a schedule made it difficult to work on his long-term projects.

What can you say about Charles Dickens?

This great genius slept exclusively facing north to make his work even more perfect. The writer always had a navigation compass with him.

Before falling asleep, he had to make sure that he went to bed in this direction, and he believed that this bizarre practice improved his creativity. They say Dickens suffered from insomnia.

Inventor Nikola Tesla never slept more than two hours a day

With such a limited sleep schedule, the genius had plenty of time to work on his projects. Like da Vinci, Tesla consistently adhered to the Uberman sleep cycle and claimed to never sleep more than two hours a day. According to his assistants, he once worked in his laboratory for 84 hours without any rest.

“I don’t think that in this world there are any sharp sensations that can pass through the heart of a common man, because only a great inventor can experience such sensations, since he is able to see some signs from above that prophesy success... Such emotions make people forget about food, sleep, friends, and even love,” said Tesla.

How did Napoleon Bonaparte relax?

He could wear the same clothes for several days or completely deprive himself of sleep.

During his military campaigns, Napoleon was a whirlwind of energy, jumping from place to place, looking at maps and thinking about strategy. He could wear the same clothes for days or hardly sleep at night. But he had one peculiarity. According to many great leaders, he could fall asleep at any inopportune moment. Napoleon could sleep like a child right before a battle and even when there were cannons nearby. He could easily forget about the fatigue that haunts all those who do not sleep at night. Then, when the storm of battle was over, the general could sleep eighteen hours a day.

Conclusion

Everyone unanimously insists that we need eight or nine hours of proper rest so that our body can function normally, but some individuals do not understand this. Luckily, they somehow manage to do what they do with such minimal sleep.

Donald Trump is the US President who clearly doesn't get enough sleep. His schedule is only three to four hours a day, but he says it gives him a competitive advantage. Apparently he works hard.

What are your sleep habits? Did you know that problems with the pineal gland can cause insomnia? Although we should not forget about the individual characteristics and abilities of each person. Therefore, sleep as much as your body needs.

On average, a person needs 6 to 8 hours of sleep per day. That's about one third of life! It is interesting that a hundred years ago people slept 1 - 1.5 hours more, despite the fact that life expectancy was shorter. Scientists say that normal sleep should last 7–8 hours. If you sleep less, it can negatively impact your health. Although the need for sleep is a relative value and can vary from person to person in a fairly wide range.

Reading about the lives of great people, I noticed that many of them slept very little. For example, Leonardo da Vinci slept only 1.5-2 hours a day. How is this even possible? You involuntarily begin to think: maybe sleeping 7 hours is just a habit and we can sleep less without harming our health? Or is this a physiological necessity for the body? I wish I had an extra three to four hours!

So what about the bedtimes of great people? Their lives are shrouded in such myths and legends that it is difficult to say whether this information is true or not. In any case, their biographies mention some interesting facts regarding this topic, which I will tell you about now.

Leonardo da Vinci

Some sources claim that the legendary artist Leonardo da Vinci was able to stay awake almost 22 hours a day, productively working on his artistic masterpieces and scientific inventions. He slept only 1.5-2 hours, splitting it into 15-20 minutes every four hours.

Currently, this sleep system is called polyphasic sleep. There are many followers of this system who claim that it works great. However, their opponents claim that the sleep habits attributed to Leonardo da Vinci are just a myth, and there are no reliable sources that would confirm this fact.

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla, the great inventor, stated that he sleeps only 2-3 hours a day.

“I’m completely exhausted, but I can’t stop working. My experiments are so important, so beautiful, so amazing that I can hardly tear myself away from them to eat. And when I try to sleep, I think about them all the time. I guess I'll keep going until I drop dead."

Tesla, who, indeed, could work throughout the night and not alone, often after his scientific exploits experienced a severe loss of strength and literally almost fell dead. Then he fell into a long restorative sleep. There are all the signs of manic creative obsession.

Thomas Edison

The great scientist said about himself that he sleeps less than 5 hours a day. He believed that long sleep was a sign of laziness. Most people, Edison believed, eat and sleep one hundred percent more than necessary, and a person who sleeps eight to ten hours a night is never fully asleep and never fully awake. Edison's disdain for what he considered excessive sleep is well documented, but his employees noted that he actually slept much more than he admitted. In his laboratory, in one corner there was a small crib, on which he allowed himself to take a nap from time to time.

By the way, Nikola Tesla, after a short period of work under the auspices of Edison, became the sworn enemy of his former mentor. Everyone knows the so-called “war of currents” that took place between them, but Edison and Tesla also clashed on another battlefield. They tried to outdo each other in the minimum duration of sleep.

Thomas Jefferson

Which great man slept little?

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence, slept only 2 hours a night. From what Jefferson writes about his sleep habits in his letters to Dr. Wayne Utley, we can conclude that his sleep was irregular. He went to bed at different times and, most often, very late. He devoted at least 30 minutes to reading before bed, which lasted until well after midnight if it was of particular interest. But no matter what time he went to bed, Thomas Jefferson woke up regularly at dawn.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Some sources say that Napoleon slept only from 12 pm to 2 am, then woke up and worked, went to bed again at 5 am and finally got up at 7 am. This means he only slept for 4 hours.

Napoleon's officers reported his amazing ability to recover quickly. After long and intense hours on the battlefield, half an hour of sleep was enough for him to once again become alert, energetic and ready for action. Napoleon Bonaparte really slept little and often suffered from insomnia during times of great stress. His memoirs show that he didn't mind dying young, so he ignored doctors' complaints about him getting little sleep and drinking buckets of strong coffee. Since Napoleon's life was filled with stress, his short sleep may have been a consequence of his lifestyle and negatively affected his military skills. In any case, many contemporaries explain his strategic mistakes at Waterloo precisely by sleep deprivation. From the same memoirs we learn that on the island of St. Helena, when stress gave way to boredom, Napoleon slept long hours and late into the night.

Benjamin Franklin

They say that Benjamin Franklin slept 2-3 hours a night. In fact, Franklin's reputation for sleep is similar to his reputation for frugality - "a penny saved is a penny earned" and all that. Sleep is something that is natural, but has the potential for abuse (not too much of a good thing, in other words). In Franklin's time, industry and hard work were extremely important human virtues. Edison also adopted Franklin's philosophy, and in both cases it was important for them to model their behavior in such a way that it was natural to assume that they were getting little sleep. For them, this meant that they were diligent in life, demanding of themselves and never succumbing to laziness. In his autobiography, Franklin describes his quest for moral self-improvement. In his principles of order, he strictly defines appropriate activities during each hour of the day, and only four hours a day are allocated for sleep there. It is this principle most often cited to illustrate Benjamin Franklin's spartan attitude toward sleep.

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill slept on average 5 - 6 hours a day - he went to bed at three in the morning and woke up at eight. He spent the morning in bed, reading documents and dictating letters. However, Churchill was a proponent of afternoon naps.

“You should sleep between lunch and dinner, and no half measures, ever! Take off your clothes and go to bed. This is what I always do. Don't think that you will do less work because you sleep during the day. This is a stupid opinion of people who have no imagination. On the contrary, you will be able to do more, because you get two days in one - well, at least one and a half.” Winston Churchill.

Albert Einstein

The story goes that Albert Einstein liked to sleep ten hours a night unless he was working on a complex idea. He claimed that his dreams helped him in his scientific work. Einstein also believed that sleep “renews the mind,” which allows it to maintain high creative activity.

As you can see, based on these examples, it is difficult to argue that a small amount of sleep is a prerequisite for achieving success in life. Because in the end, what matters most is not how much time you have, but how you use it. And I think that everyone should listen to themselves, their body, in order to feel what they really need. Don't be too lazy to sleep more than you need, and don't be so hardworking that you neglect your health. That's all!

The Roman politician and commander Gaius Julius Caesar founded the great Roman Empire and forever changed the culture of the future Europe. He won the civil war and became the sole ruler of the “Roman World”.

To achieve all this, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, Caesar slept about 3 hours a day. At the same time, he did not give himself any privileges - during military campaigns, Julius Caesar slept with his soldiers, right on the ground in the open air.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

Perhaps the list should be supplemented with one more item. The brilliant artist and inventor slept 15–20 minutes a day every four hours (about 2 hours in total). The remaining 22 hours Leonardo worked.

Today, this sleep system is called “polyphasic sleep.” It is believed that this regimen allows you to increase your waking time to 20–22 hours a day. This pattern has many followers, but, apparently, there is no second da Vinci among them.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)

Benjamin Franklin is a famous politician, diplomat and scientist. His signature appears on the US Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Treaty of Versailles of 1783, and his portrait adorns the $100 bill.

In his opinion, there shouldn’t be too much of a good thing. And sleep is undoubtedly a blessing. In addition, he adhered to a strict daily routine, in which no more than 4 hours of sleep were allocated.

Napoleon I Bonaparte (1769–1821)

Many have heard Bonaparte’s aphorism: “Napoleon sleeps for four hours, old people for five, soldiers for six, women for seven, men for eight, and only the sick sleep for nine.” Indeed, Napoleon usually went to bed around midnight and slept until 2 am. Then I got up, worked, and around 5 a.m. went to bed again for a couple of hours. He ended up sleeping about 4 hours a night.

At the same time, historians note that the great commander often suffered from insomnia due to constant stress. It is precisely the catastrophic lack of sleep that some explain Bonaparte's strategic failures at Waterloo.

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

Thomas Jefferson slept only 2 hours a night. At the same time, from his correspondence we can conclude that the politician did not adhere to any regime. He always went to bed at different times (most often late), always read before going to bed, and woke up with the first rays of the sun.

Thomas Edison (1847–1931)

The world-famous inventor, who invented the phonograph, incandescent lamps and the iconic word “hello,” claimed that he slept 5 hours a day. Like many geniuses, he considered it a waste of time and a sign of laziness. Therefore, Edison openly despised the sleepyhead and couch potato.

Maybe this prompted him to invent light bulbs. In the old days, when candles were used, people slept for 10 hours, but with the advent of Thomas Edison's incandescent lamp, the sleep rate was reduced to 7 hours a day. It’s also funny that in the scientist’s laboratory there was a small sofa, and evil tongues said that Edison allowed himself to take a light nap from time to time during the day.

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943)

Another brilliant scientist, a famous physicist and inventor, who made significant contributions to the study of alternating current, slept only 2-3 hours a day.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, he could work all night long, even if he was very tired. “I’m completely exhausted, but I can’t stop working. My experiments are so important, so beautiful, so amazing that I can hardly tear myself away from them to eat. And when I try to sleep, I think about them all the time. I believe that I will continue until I drop dead,” said Tesla. True, after such exhausting days, he fell into sleep for a long time to regain his strength.

Winston Churchill (1874–1965)

One of the greatest Britons in history (according to the British themselves), Winston Churchill adhered to the following: went to bed at 3 am and woke up at 8 am. Thus, he slept five hours a day.

However, the wise politician never neglected the opportunity to take a nap for an hour after lunch. “You should sleep between lunch and dinner, and no half measures, ever! Take off your clothes and go to bed. This is what I always do. Don't think that you will do less work because you sleep during the day. This is a stupid opinion of people who have no imagination. On the contrary, you will be able to do more, because you get two days in one - well, at least one and a half.”

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989)

It is not known for certain how many hours the Spanish artist Salvador Dali devoted to sleep. But there is evidence that he, like Leonardo da Vinci, practiced “ragged” sleep.

To do this, Dali placed a metal tray near the bed and took a spoon in his hands. As soon as he entered a deep phase of sleep, the spoon fell - the artist woke up from the roar. According to him, the intermediate state between sleep and wakefulness gave him new ideas.

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013)

“The Iron Lady” was already on one of our lists - . So you know she was a real workaholic - she slept 4-5 hours a night, and sometimes only one and a half or two. Thatcher herself spoke about sleep this way: “I never slept more than four or five hours. One way or another, my life is my work. Some people work to live. I live to work. I often only sleep an hour and a half, preferring to sacrifice sleep time to have a decent hairstyle.”

The division of people into “owls” and “larks” or - otherwise - into “marmots” and “Napoleons” is known to everyone.

And it is clear to everyone that such names are not accidental. Everything is clear with animals, but with “Napoleons”... In general, it’s not difficult to figure it out either. Napoleon Bonaparte was famous for his energy and slept only 4 hours a day. And by the way, he wasn’t the only one who did this...

Napoleon Bonaparte. I considered sleep a useless activity. “Napoleon sleeps 4 hours, old people - 5, soldiers - 6, women - 7, men - 8, and only sick people sleep 9,” he said. By the way, scientists from Cleveland University dug up information that the great French commander recommended that girls get enough sleep. Observing the ladies, Napoleon developed his sleep formula, the main constant of which was a mandatory 8-hour sleep.

Gaius Julius Caesar. I slept 2-4 hours a day. During military campaigns he did not stand on ceremony and slept with the soldiers in the open air.

Margaret Thatcher. The Iron Lady also slept less than 5 hours a night. This is what she herself said: “I never slept more than four or five hours a night. One way or another, my life is my work. Some people work to live. I live to work. I often sleep only an hour and a half , preferring to sacrifice sleep time to have a decent hairstyle."

Leonardo da Vinci.“Chased” the muse, which, as you know, loves to come in the morning (brain performance at this time increases 6-10 times!). I changed my routine in the most decisive way: I slept only 2-4 hours a day, and spent the rest of the time doing creative work. In order to have time to “catch” the muse several times a day, sleep was divided into “pieces”: 15 minutes of sleep, then 4 hours of work, then again a short sleep. And so on day after day, year after year!

Salvador Dali. I was afraid to sleep and loved to draw:), so I resorted to methods similar to da Vinci’s “ragged” sleep. The artist placed a metal tray on the floor next to him, and between the thumb and forefinger of the hand hanging over the tray, he clamped a spoon. As soon as he dozed off, the spoon would fall onto the tray with a clang and wake him up. The state, intermediate between wakefulness and sleep, refreshed Dali, and he frantically returned to work.

Thomas Edison. He slept little himself (about 5 hours a day) and “did not allow” others to sleep. With candles and gas lighting, people slept about 10 hours every day, and after the advent of Thomas Edison's famous incandescent lamp, the norm decreased to 7 hours. :)

Winston Churchill. I slept 4-6 hours at night and 1 hour during the day. Basically, I slept from 3 to 7 o'clock in the morning, and, by the way, I did absolutely the right thing - if you are a night owl, it is correct to fall asleep after 2 o'clock, otherwise you risk waking up in the middle of the slow-wave sleep phase.

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