close
close

Man sleeps 30 minutes every night to ‘double his life’ – but does it work? A doctor answers

Man sleeps 30 minutes every night to ‘double his life’ – but does it work? A doctor answers

Most of us are aware that healthy adults need 7-9 hours of sleep for optimal cognitive and physical health, but Japanese entrepreneur Daisuki Hori claims to have been getting 30-45 minutes of sleep every night for the past 12 years.

Why? In an effort to boost his overall productivity. More hours per night, he claims, is the secret to his reckless sleep trick success. But getting just 30 to 45 minutes of shut-eye a night goes against expert advice and sleep studies that link insufficient sleep to poor cognitive function and physical health.

For Hori, being a “very short sleeper” has proven so successful that he’s now on a quest to teach others to do the same. But is it safe? We speak to a sleep medicine doctor and certified sleep coach to find out if it’s possible to survive (and thrive) on so little sleep, and to examine the long-term health consequences of severe sleep deprivation.

What is Daisuki Hori’s sleeping pattern?