It is impossible to definitively state who in all of history has slept the least, as comprehensive, scientifically-monitored sleep records for all individuals across time do not exist.
Thomas Edison: The famous inventor only required about three to four hours of shut eye each night, according to The New York Times. He regarded sleep as "a heritage from our cave days."
In January 1964, American student Randy Gardner sits on a bed next to various household objects he will later have to identify by memory as part of a sleep deprivation experiment in San Diego, Calif. Gardner set the world record during the experiment, staying awake for over 264 hours.
Key Findings
Al Herpin, who lived in Trenton, New Jersey, claimed to have never slept. The supposed cause is unknown. While claims such as his have occasionally appeared in newspapers, there is a recognized medical consensus that all humans require sleep, and that they do so even if they are not aware of it.
The koala is famous for sleeping around 20-22 hours a day, which is about 90% of the day, due to their low-energy diet of eucalyptus leaves that requires extensive digestion. Other extremely sleepy animals include the sloth (up to 20 hours) and the brown bat (around 20 hours), with some snakes like the ball python also sleeping up to 23 hours daily.
Which jobs have the highest rates of sleep deprivation? Transportation workers (especially truck drivers), healthcare workers, manufacturing employees working night shifts, and business executives have the highest rates of occupational sleep deprivation.
They found that, relative to non-Hispanic White Americans, Blacks/African Americans were 41% more likely to be short sleepers (6 or fewer hours); similarly, non-Mexican Hispanic adults were 26% more likely to be short sleepers, and those in the “other” category were 35% more likely to be short sleepers.
According to WHOOP's data, Aussies are going to bed at 10:45pm on average each night, making us the earliest sleepers globally. On average, we're waking up around 6:44am, which equals a solid eight hours of sleep.
Musk goes to bed around 3 a.m. and gets about 6 hours of sleep every night. Although he's not getting eight hours a night, Musk has upped his sleeping schedule from being nearly nonexistent in the past. In May 2023, Musk told CNBC that he's no longer pulling all-nighters.
There is no clear answer as to how long a person can survive without sleep before it either directly or indirectly causes death.
There is individual variability in how much sleep we need. Most adults need about 7 to 8 hours of good-quality sleep per night (good quality means the major sleep episode does not have frequent arousalsa and is long enough for the individual).
Whether you prefer a cold drink or a warm bedtime drink, here's our list of the best drinks before bed to help you drift off.
Some evidence suggests that high IQ is associated with later sleep patterns. However, it is unclear whether the relationship between IQ and later sleep is due to biological or social effects, such as the timing of working hours.
John F.
JFK's workdays were over 12 hours long, but it's said that he would take a two-hour long siesta every afternoon which allowed him to gain more energy for work in the evening. He apparently picked up his nap habit from his predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower.
A Hungarian man named Paul Kern claims he has spent the past 40 years living a sleepless life. And I don't just mean that he's had bouts of insomnia. No, Kern claims that he hasn't slept a wink since taking a gunshot injury to the head during World War I.
The 3-2-1 sleep rule is a simple wind-down routine: stop eating and drinking alcohol 3 hours before bed, stop working/mentally stimulating activities 2 hours before, and turn off screens (phones, TVs) 1 hour before sleep, helping you transition to rest by reducing stimulants and preparing your mind and body. It's often part of a larger 10-3-2-1-0 rule, which also adds no caffeine 10 hours prior and no hitting snooze (0) in the morning.
1. Average Sleep Requirements for an Australian Shepherd. On average, an adult Australian Shepherd should sleep between 12 to 14 hours a day. This total includes both nighttime sleep and daytime naps.
Australia's top three causes of death consistently include Dementia (including Alzheimer's disease), Ischaemic Heart Disease, and Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases (like COPD), though their exact ranking can shift, with dementia often leading for women and heart disease for men, but the overall gap narrowing significantly, according to recent ABS data.
On unadjusted analysis, black children had 2.5 times the odds of snoring as white children, and Hispanic children had 2.3 times the odds of snoring as white children.
Table 1 shows that ATUS respondents slept about 502 minutes on their diary day, with men reporting less sleep than women (496 versus 508 minutes), a statistically significant difference of about 11 minutes.
Light skin is most commonly found amongst the native populations of Europe, East Asia, West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Siberia, and North Africa as measured through skin reflectance.
There's no single #1 happiest job universally, but Firefighters consistently rank high for job satisfaction due to their sense of purpose, while Care Workers, Counsellors, Content Creators, and IT roles (Java Devs, Systems Analysts) also appear frequently on "happiest" lists for fulfillment, autonomy, or good pay/balance. Overall, jobs with meaning, helping others, nature connection, strong coworker bonds, or good work-life balance tend to be cited as happiest.
Which jobs are most damaging to your health?
Pilot is the world's dream job, with over 1.3 million global annual searches. Travel-related roles take up a large portion of the dream jobs list; alongside Pilot in first, followed by Flight Attendant in fifth and Travel Agent in sixth.