Can you Really get by with Less Sleep than Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos?
Can you really get by with less sleep than Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos?
You cannot excel with less sleep than Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, can you? According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, it is crucial to sleep 7 hours or more per night. Many people (including even doctors) pooh-pooh this advice. People talk about power naps and how they can function with little sleep. But they are not functioning well!
What do Famous People say about Sleep?
Read what these ten famous people have to say:
Bill Gates (Microsoft founder): “I like to get seven hours of sleep a night because that’s what I need to stay sharp and creative and upbeat.”
Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO): “I just feel so much better all day long if I’ve had eight hours.”
Kevin Durant (NBA player): “I try to get a solid eight hours of sleep each night… I’m up pretty early most days so I can fit in two or three workouts.”
Tom Brady (NFL player): “Sleep has got to be a priority. I think sleep is so important because I break my body down so much with my sport. It’s the only place to get the recovery that I need.”
Jennifer Lopez (Actress, singer): “Sleep is my weapon. I try to get eight hours a night.”
Halle Berry (Actress): “I love to sleep. When I’m rested, I’m at my best.”
Mark Cuban (Entrepreneur, investor, author): “Sleep matters. If you’re not rested, it impacts your health, it impacts your productivity, it impacts your concentration, it impacts your family. It impacts everything.”
Cameron Diaz (Actress, author): “People have a hard time sleeping and sleep is so important… repair to our body happens when we are sleeping.”
Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO): “It turns out, when children get enough sleep, everything’s fine, and when children don’t, nothing is. I realized… I’m like that, too.”
Ryan Jensen (Football player on his sleep apnea diagnosis): “It really has saved my life and it really did save my career.”
The most important way people don’t get enough sleep is by not spending enough time in bed. Sleep apnea can reduce sleep quantity and quality. Insomnia results in decreased time asleep (although the solution then is not to increase time in bed – that only makes insomnia worse).
If you do not get enough sleep, you will be more tired and sleepy (excessive sleepiness or hypersomnia). Your cognitive function will not be as good as it would be if you got enough time in bed. You will make more errors, have more minor and major accidents, and not function at your very best. Make Time To Sleep.
