Our sleeping habits have been getting more and more chaotic as times goes on, and this is due to a variety of factors. Some would say it’s because the speed of technology and work nowadays makes it harder to rest for the recommended 8 hours a day, while some would argue that 8 hours is way too much when there’s so much to do.
Some would go as far as to say sleeping less makes one a more creative and productive person, since there are so many examples of great people throughout history with weird sleeping habits and a lot of creative genius to show for those habits.
Let’s see what they are and what science says about it!
Marissa Mayer
Yahoo’s CEO worked so much that she would often sleep on her desk for short intervals and take strategic showers. She reportedly worked 130 hours weekly when at Google, meaning the short sleeping intervals kept her working for longer, since every single interval delayed exhaustion.
She also claims burnout is a myth, stating that “a lot of people work really hard for decades and decades, like Winston Churchill and Einstein.” (Inc.)
To make up for the absurd amount of daily work, she takes weeklong vacations every four months to let off some steam and get her energy back.
Leonardo Da Vinci
A quick look at da Vinci’s Wikipedia page will lead to only one question - how did he have time for all this? The man is known for dealing with areas such as invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography! (Wikipedia)
Maybe the reason he had so much time was his uncommon sleeping schedule - he would take 20 minute naps every four hours or so. And that was it.
This is called the Uberman Sleep Cycle, defended by many and detracted by just as many. It’s very hard to adjust to it, considered impossible unless you have help from others, not to mention you will need to fight sleep deprivation, which by itself may lead to serious consequences.
Da Vinci was not the only one who followed this unusual cycle - inventor Nikola Tesla, while less intentionally, followed a similar sleeping pattern.
Nikola Tesla
Tesla’s contributions to the modern world may impress you, but what shouldn’t surprise you is that he had trouble sleeping since a very young age.
In his adult years, Tesla slept only a couple of hours every night, recharging his energy during the daytime as necessary. It’s known that at least once, he spent around 84 hours working on his projects without a night of sleep.
It’s unlikely he was following this sleep cycle with some sort of purpose, it’s rather something he developed over the years and managed to live well enough with, due to having trouble sleeping at such a young age.
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post’s founder and editor-in-chief can tell us a thing or two about sleep deprivation - the story of when she woke up in a pool of her own blood is notorious.
She had forced herself to work so much that sleep deprivation took the best of her (as it would anyone at this point) and she collapsed, hitting her head on the way down.
After that incident in 2007, she went on to change her habits and promote a culture of better, natural, healthier sleep for everyone, by researching and writing her book: The Sleep Revolution.
This led to her completely transforming her bedroom and sleeping routine, which is far from being weird, it’s actually quite sensible: she turns off all her electronics and leaves them out of the bedroom, takes a nice relaxing bath and reads a book (a real one, no tablets) until sleep naturally arrives.
Winston Churchill
Britain’s prime minister would take a two-hour nap every day after sipping on weak whisky and soda. He was known to often work late at night, and this little routine, he said, would help him be a lot more productive during the day.
Taking naps is actually encouraged by most doctors, especially if you feel like you didn’t have enough sleep during the night and need to keep working.
Drinking whisky and soda, however, is ill advised.
Charles Dickens
It’s not uncommon for highly creative people to have insomnia, which sometimes may lead to quirky little routines that help them feel more relaxed in order to sleep, sometimes to the point of it being considered OCD.
This was nearly the case for writer Charles Dickens - he slept and wrote always facing north, as he believed this improved his creativity.
But he wasn’t the only writer with an unusual routine for sleeping. Far from it. There is literally a book about it called Odd Type Habits: From Joyce and Dickens to Wharton and Welty, the Obsessive Habits and Quirky Techniques of Great Authors.
And speaking of writers…
Stephen King
Mr. King has openly said he needs his pillows to be pointing a certain way for him to be able to sleep. He also needs to wash his hands - a quirk he has admitted makes no sense at all: “the pillows are supposed to be pointed a certain way. The open side of the pillowcase is supposed to the pointed in toward the other side of the bed,” he admitted in his biography.
It’s another case of a highly productive person having a routine - as odd as it may be - that helps them relax, unwind and get ready for sleep. King has published 54 novels, not to mention his short stories, work on movies, television, and comic books.
Emily Bronte
The famous novelist had insomnia, but her solution was a lot simpler and less convoluted than Dickens - she would simply walk around her dining table until she felt tired enough to go to bed.
This is a common and effective way of finding sleep for insomniacs around the world. Finding a way to exhaust your body usually leads to it deciding it’s best to go to bed.
Eminem
This one, along with some others from this list, may be considered less weird and more practical - Eminem needs to have the room in total darkness to be able to sleep.
In fact, so should you. Excess light in a room may mess up the body’s notion of night time, and it’s precisely for that reason Eminem goes as far as to wrapping tin foil around the windows. When touring, performers tend to have difficulty sleeping due to the changing time zones, and this practice helps the artist have a proper “night time” in his bedroom.
It’s also said he likes white noise - a constant humming of noise used to mask subtle sound alteration that might wake up a light sleeper, but is also used to disguise the annoyance of the ringing in the ears when it’s too silent, which for insomniacs, is reason enough to stay awake.
Martha Stewart
Businesswoman Martha Stewart sleeps only 4 hours a day, due to her busy routine. She claims this is more than sufficient for her activities and well-being.
"It's an exhausting lifestyle, and I always say sleep can go. It's not important to me right now." (WebMD)
Martha isn’t the only one who does it, there are many reports of even everyday people who believe 4 hours of sleep if enough to recharge the energies and get another day going.
Science says this is at least 2 hours short of ideal, but there are studies pointing that a very small amount of the population (1%) can be considered “short sleepers” - people who need only 4 hours of sleep to wake up feeling well-rested. However, even when there are no negative side effects of sleeping only 4 hours a day, it’s still considered a form of sleep disorder.
Albert Einstein
You’d think someone as notoriously brilliant as Einstein would have an absolutely insane sleeping schedule, but quite the opposite: he was known to sleep for 10 hours every night, plus a few more daytime naps.
There is a line in Iron Man 3 where Tony Stark says Einstein slept 3 hours a year, but there is no evidence of that being true, nor would it be humanly possible.
Einstein proves that being sleep deprived is far from being a form of creative or productivity boosting. Each case seems to be exclusive in its own way, and if they prove anything, it’s that weird sleeping habits almost always happen accidentally.
General guideline is that if you can, opt for a regular sleeping cycle.
If you can’t, it depends on your particular case: some people, like some of the ones on this list, would probably tell us they don’t need a solution and feel comfortable that way. However, if you feel your sleeping problems are getting in the way of your work, personal life and relationships, it’s recommended to look for help and adapt a new routine.
There isn’t one single correct answer, so do some research, go to a doctor, talk to friends, or get some coffee and prepare for another long night.
Did you know about all these weird sleeping habits? Do you have some of your own? Do you think it’s alright to have them? Let us know in the comments and follows us on Facebook!
