If it wasn't clear, this is actually a real thing. See e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familial_natural_short_sleep (of course whether it would actually be possible to just pick this up via gene therapy is untested, and I think gene therapies are hard in the brain because of the blood-brain barrier). One of my roommates in college had this and was able to get by fine with 5 hours of sleep a night, I was always envious.
I wonder how many in that list are individuals with the gene anomaly mentioned in the article, and how many simply perpetuate the "successful people work more and sleep less" meme.
And how many are just straight up lying to trump up their public image. A few names come to mind.
Trump’s doctor prescribed him adderall and probably testosterone while Elon musk is known for taking ambien with wine and fat reducing shots.
That’s just the public stuff. Bill Gates is getting weekly IV’s of fluids and vitamins (see his Netflix special). It would be naive to assume these people aren’t taking everything under the sun while being closely monitored for side effects in order to stay productive and monitor their vast empires.
Tell me more about these fat reducing shots, please :-)
As for ambien with wine, jeez that sounds like what one would use as an excuse in court, or a setup for a horror story. "I wasn't myself judge, I took ambien and had a glass of wine"
I wonder how much of this is real and how much Internet rumour.
For the Bill Gates claim, there was a scene in that documentary he made where he goes off into a nurse's office to get IV fluids and it's like a weekly thing he mentions, I'd have to rewatch it to find the exact spot where that happens: https://www.netflix.com/title/80184771
This is self reported probably and I call BS. There’s a weird version of machismo in bragging that you don’t need sleep. To me it’s, like the people who say they work 80 hours a week. What I think those people mean is that they’re at work 80 hours a week.
