Naps Increase Your Creativity

The list of creative people to include naps, sometimes multiple naps, is far too large to be ignored. In addition to his well-known war exploits, Winston Churchill, who wrote 93 books and painted at a very high level, considered his late afternoon nap non-negotiable. In his book The Gathering Storm, Churchill said,

“Nature has not intended mankind to work from eight in the morning until midnight without that refreshment of blessed oblivion which, even if it only lasts twenty minutes, is sufficient to renew all the vital forces… Don’t think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion held by people who have no imagination. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one — well, at least one and a half.”

John F. Kennedy ate his lunch daily in bed before drawing the curtains for a one- to two-hour nap each day. Margaret Thatcher was good for an hour a day while Bill Clinton hovered between 15–60 minutes. I take a 20-minute nap daily and find I am far more creative just after I wake.

Albert Einstein broke up his day at 1:30 pm, returning from his office to have lunch and take a nap. Thomas Edison napped for up to three hours per day. While Leonardo Da Vinci took up to a dozen 10-minute naps a day. This sleep pattern of logging no more than five hours of sleep a day is infamously known as the…