In Depth | Brain
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SPL
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More than 10 hours of sleep and no socks – could this be the secret to thinking like a genius?
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Celebrated inventor and physicist Nikola Tesla swore by toe exercises – every night, he’d repeatedly ‘squish’ his toes, 100 times for each foot, according to the author Marc J Seifer. While it’s not entirely clear exactly what that exercise involved, Tesla claimed it helped to stimulate his brain cells.
The most prolific mathematician of the 20th Century, Paul Erdos, preferred a different kind of stimulant: amphetamine, which he used to fuel 20-hour number benders. When a friend bet him $500 that he couldn’t stop for a month, he won but complained “You’ve set mathematics back a month”.
Newton, meanwhile, bragged about the benefits of celibacy. When he died in 1727, he had transformed our understanding of the natural world forever and left behind 10 million words of notes; he was also, by all accounts, still a virgin (Tesla was also celibate, though he later claimed he fell in love with a pigeon).
Like it or not, our daily habits have a powerful impact on our brains
Many of the world’s most brilliant scientific minds were also fantastically weird. From Pythagoras’ outright ban on beans to Benjamin Franklin’s naked ‘air baths’, the path to greatness is paved with some truly peculiar habits.
But what if these are more than superficial facts? Scientists are increasingly realising that intelligence is less about sheer genetic luck than we tend to think. According to the latest review of the evidence, around 40% of what distinguishes the brainiacs from the blockheads in adulthood is environmental. Like it or not, our daily habits have a powerful impact on our brains, shaping their structure and changing the way we think.
We'll never know, but maybe out of shot, Nikola Tesla was squishing his toes (Credit: SPL)
Of all history’s great minds, arguably the master of combining genius with unusual habits was Albert Einstein – so what better person to study for clues to mind-enhancing behaviours to try ourselves? He taught us how to squeeze energy out of atoms, so maybe, just maybe, he might be able to teach us a thing or two about how to squeeze the most out of our tiny mortal brains. Could there be any benefits in following Einstein’s sleep, diet, and even fashion choices?
10 HOURS OF SLEEP AND ONE-SECOND NAPS
It’s common knowledge that sleep is good for your brain – and Einstein took this advice more seriously than most. He reportedly slept for at least 10 hours per day – nearly one and a half times as much as the average American today (6.8 hours). But can you really slumber your way to a sharper mind?
The author John Steinbeck once said: “It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleephas worked on it.”
Many of the most radical breakthroughs in human history, including the periodic table, the structure of DNA and Einstein’s theory of special relativity, have supposedly occurred while their discoverer was unconscious. The latter came to Einstein while he was dreaming about cows being electrocuted. But is this really true?
Back in 2004, scientists at the University of Lubeck, Germany, tested the idea with a simple experiment. First they trained volunteers to play a number game. Most gradually got the hang of it with practice, but by far the quickest way to improve was to uncover a hidden rule. When the students were tested again eight hours later, those who had been allowed to sleep were more than twice as likely to gain insight into the rules than those who had remained awake.
Those who have more spindle events tend to have greater ‘fluid intelligence’
When we fall asleep, the brain enters a series of cycles. Every 90-120 minutes the brain fluctuates between light sleep, deep sleep and a phase associated with dreaming, known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM), which until recently was thought to play the leading role in learning and memory. But this isn’t the full story. “Non-REM sleep has been a bit of a mystery, but we spend about 60% of our night in this type of sleep,” says Stuart Fogel, a neuroscientist at the University of Ottawa.
Non-REM sleep is characterised by bursts of fast brain activity, so called ‘spindle events’ because of the spindle-shaped zigzag the waves trace on an EEG. A normal night’s sleep will involve thousands of these, each lasting no longer than a few seconds. “This is really the gateway to other stages of sleep – the more you sleep, the more of these events you’ll have,” he says.
Chilling out with physicist Niels Bohr (Credit: SPL)
Spindle events begin with a surge of electrical energy generated by the rapid firing of structures deep in the brain. The main culprit is the thalamus, an oval shaped region which acts as the brain’s main ‘switching centre’, sending incoming sensory signals in the right direction. While we’re sleeping, it acts like an internal earplug, scrambling external information to help you stay asleep. During a spindle event, the surge travels up to the brain’s surface and then back down again to complete a loop.
Intriguingly, those who have more spindle events tend to have greater ‘fluid intelligence’ – the ability to solve new problems, use logic in new situations, and identify patterns – the kind Einstein had in spades. "They don’t seem related to other types of intelligence, such as the ability to memorise facts and figures, so it’s really specific to these reasoning skills," says Fogel. This ties in nicely with Einstein’s disdain for formal education and advice to "never memorise anything which you can look up".
And though the more you sleep, the more spindle events you’ll have, this doesn’t necessarily prove that more sleep is beneficial. It’s a chicken and egg scenario: do some people have more spindle events because they are smart, or are they smart because they have more spindle events? The jury is still out, but a recent study showed that night-time sleep in women – and napping in men – can improve reasoning and problem solving skills. Crucially, the boost to intelligence was linked to the presence of spindle events, which only occurred during night-time sleep in women and daytime slumbers in men.
It’s not yet known why spindle events would be helpful, but Fogel thinks it may have something to do with the regions which are activated. “We’ve found that the same regions that generate spindles – the thalamus and the cortex [the brain’s surface] – well, these are the areas which support the ability to solve problems and apply logic in new situations,” he says.
Luckily for Einstein, he also took regular naps. According to apocryphal legend, to make sure he didn’t overdo it he’d recline in his armchair with a spoon in his hand and a metal plate directly beneath. He’d allow himself to drift off for a second, then – bam! – the spoon would fall from his hand and the sound of it hitting the plate would wake him up.
DAILY WALKS
Einstein’s daily walk was sacred to him. While he was working at Princeton University, New Jersey, he’d walk the mile and a half journey there and back. He followed in the footsteps of other diligent walkers, including Darwin who went for three 45 minute walks every day.
These constitutionals weren’t just for fitness – there’s mountains of evidence that walking can boost memory, creativity and problem-solving. For creativity at least, walking outside is even better. But why?
Go for a walk! Einstein recommends it (Credit: Getty Images)
When you think about it, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Walking distracts the brain from more cerebral tasks, and forces it to focus on putting one foot in front of the other and not falling over. Enter ‘transient hypofrontality’ – translated into basic English, this impressive mouthful basically means temporarily toning down the activity in certain parts of the brain. In particular, the frontal lobes, which are involved in higher processes such as memory, judgement and language.
By turning it down a notch, the brain adopts a totally different style of thinking – one which may lead to insights you wouldn’t get at your desk. There isn’t any evidence for this explanation of walking’s benefits yet, but it’s a tantalising idea.
EATING SPAGHETTI
So what do geniuses eat? Alas, it’s not clear what fuelled Einstein’s extraordinary mind, though the internet somewhat dubiously claims it was spaghetti. He did once joke that his favourite things about Italy were “spaghettiand [mathematician] Levi-Civita”, so we’ll go with that.
Though carbohydrates have got a bad rep, as always, Einstein was spot on. It’s well known that the brain is a food-guzzling greedy guts, consuming 20% of the body’s energy though it only accounts for 2% of its weight (Einstein’s may have been even less – his brain weighed just 1,230g, compared to an average of around 1,400g). Just like the rest of the body, the brain prefers to snack on simple sugars, such as glucose, which have been broken down from carbohydrates. Neurons require an almost-contunuous supply and will only accept other energy sources when it’s really desperate. And therein lies a problem.
Despite this sweet tooth, the brain has no way of storing any energy, so when blood glucose levels drop, it quickly runs out. “The body can release some from its own glycogen stores by releasing stress hormones such as cortisol, but these have side-effects,” says LeighGibson, a lecturer in psychology and physiology at the University of Roehampton.
Smoking is not advised, Einstein wouldn't have been aware of all the health risks (Credit: SPL)
These include the familiar light-headedness and confusion we feel when we skip dinner. One study found that those on low carbohydrate diets have slower reaction times and reduced spatial memory – though only in the short-term (after a few weeks, the brain will adapt to salvaging energy from other sources, such as protein).
Sugars can give the brain a valuable boost, but unfortunately this doesn’t mean binging on spaghetti is a good idea. “Typically the evidence suggests that about 25g of carbohydrate is beneficial, but double that and you may actually impair your ability to think,” says Gibson. For perspective, that’s around 37 strands of spaghetti, which is a lot less than it sounds (around half as much as the recommended portion). “It’s not as simple a story as it sounds,” says Gibson.
SMOKING A PIPE
Today, the many health risks of smoking are widely known, so this is not a habit that it would be wise to follow. But Einstein was a hardened pipe smoker, known as much around campus for the cloud of smoke which followed him as for his theories. He famously loved to smoke, believing it “contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” He’d even pick cigarette butts off the street and stuff the remaining tobacco into his pipe.
Not really the behaviour of a genius, but in his defence, though evidence had been mounting since the 1940s, tobacco wasn’t publicly linked to lung cancer and other illnesses until 1962 – seven years after his death.
Today the risks are no secret – smoking stops brain cells forming, thins the cerebral cortex (the wrinkled outer layer responsible for consciousness) and starves the brain of oxygen. It’s fair to say that Einstein was clever despite this habit – not because of it.
But there is one final mystery. An analysis of 20,000 adolescents in the United States, whose habits and health were followed for 15 years, found that irrespective of age, ethnicity or education, more intelligent children grow up to smoke more cigarettes, more frequently, than the rest of us. Scientists still don’t know why this is, though intriguingly it’s not true everywhere – in the UK, smokers tend to have lower IQs.
Who needs socks? They're generally relatively unnecessary (Credit: Getty Images)
NO SOCKS
No list of Einstein’s eccentricities would be complete without a mention of his passionate aversion to socks. “When I was young,” he wrote in a letter to his cousin – and later, wife – Elsa, “I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in a sock. So I stopped wearing socks.” Later in life, when he couldn’t find his sandals he’d wear Elsa’s sling backs instead.
As it turns out, rocking the hipster look probably didn’t do Einstein any favours. Regrettably, there haven’t been any studies looking directly at the impact of going sockless, but changing into casual clothing, as opposed to a more formal outfit, has been linked to poor performance on tests of abstract thinking.
And what better way to end that with some advice from the man himself. “The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing,” he told LIFE magazine in 1955.
Failing that, you might try some toe exercises. Who knows – they might just work. And aren’t you dying to find out?
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FAQs
What were Einstein's habits? ›
10 hours of sleep and short naps
During the day, Einstein regularly dozed off in his armchair, with a pencil in his hand or a metal spoon, under which is a metal plate. He would wake up when the pencil fell and hit the floor, that is when the spoon rattled on the metal plate.
Perhaps the most striking is that Einstein had an extra ridge on his mid-frontal lobe, the part used for making plans and working memory. Most people have three ridges but Einstein had four. She also found Einstein's parietal lobes were dramatically asymmetric, and he had a knob on his right motor strip.
What are the sleep habits of geniuses? ›Albert Einstein is said to have slept 10 hours per night, plus regular daytime naps. Other great achievers, inventors, and thinkers – such as Nikola Tesla, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Leonardo da Vinci, and Sir Isaac Newton – are said to have slept between two and four hours per day.
Who slept 3 hours a Year? ›Einstein Slept Only 3 Hours a Year.
How to be smart like Einstein? ›- Always be curious. Curiosity is one of the most important things a person can develop. ...
- Learn from your mistakes. You have probably heard this statement from someone or something before. ...
- Develop a strong imagination. ...
- How you can train yourself.
Einstein's brain had a much shorter lateral sulcus that was partially missing. His brain was also 15% wider than the other brains. The researchers think that these unique brain characteristics may have allowed better connections between neurons important for math and spatial reasoning.
What was Einstein's IQ level? ›What was Albert Einstein's IQ? Though some sources estimate theoretical physicist Albert Einstein's IQ was around 160, there is no indication he ever had his IQ tested, according to biography.com.
What made Einstein so smart? ›' Einstein's breakthrough was sudden but was a result of his childlike sense of wonder and curiosity. He was always asking himself why things were as they were, much to the annoyance of his teachers.
Do geniuses go to bed late? ›Psychology Today reported that intelligent people are likely to be nocturnal beings, with those with a higher IQ going bed later on both weeknights and weekends.
Do geniuses sleep late? ›They Have Higher IQs
Studies have shown that people with higher IQs are likely to deviate from familiar evolutionary traits, such as circadian rhythms. Night owls who opt to wake up in the later hours of the day and stay awake until the wee small hours of the morning may be exhibiting a form of evolution.
Why do geniuses sleep so little? ›
Most Geniuses Perfected the Power Nap
Hence, they'd reduce the time they rest at night in order to have more functional, waking hours. Instead, they'd take advantage of the so-called “power nap”. Both Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison were famous advocates of this principle.
Musk wakes up each morning at around 7 am. He says he likes getting around six to six-and-a-half hours of sleep per night. Sleeping in is not an option for him, saying it affects his performance more than if he sleeps less.
How many hours do millionaires sleep? ›In fact, in studies conducted by Tom Corley, author of “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life,” a whopping 89 percent of self-made millionaires sleep seven to eight hours per night.
How long did Tesla sleep? ›Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla never slept for more than 2 hours a day. Much like Da Vinci, Tesla followed the Uberman Sleep Cycle, and claimed to have never slept more than 2 hours a day. He once reportedly worked for 84 hours straight in a lab without any rest.
Why is it important to learn about Einstein? ›Albert Einstein is justly famous for devising his theory of relativity, which revolutionized our understanding of space, time, gravity, and the universe.
What is good advice from Albert Einstein? ›Albert Einstein quotes about life
To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” “I believe in one thing—that only a life lived for others is a life worth living.”
Albert Einstein's most famous discoveries and theories include the four groundbreaking papers of his Miracle Year (Photoelectric Effect and Light Quanta, Brownian Motion, Special Relativity, Mass-Energy Equivalence) and the Theory of General Relativity.
Do geniuses think faster? ›The smarter the person, the faster information zips around the brain, a UCLA study finds. And this ability to think quickly apparently is inherited. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, looked at the brains and intelligence of 92 people. All the participants took standard IQ tests.
How do geniuses think? ›Geniuses think productively, not reproductively
They tend to come up with many different responses, some of which are unconventional and possibly unique. Leonardo da Vinci believed that to gain deep knowledge about a problem, you have to learn how to restructure it in many different ways.
Einstein's 10,000 Hours of Mental Simulation Training
“At the age of sixteen, Einstein began to conduct thought experiments about beams of light. These thought experiments were mental exercises that helped Einstein appreciate properties of light and also helped him notice anomalies and inconsistencies.
What is different about a geniuses brain? ›
Geniuses have a denser concentration of mini-columns than the rest of the population – it seems that they simply pack more in. Mini-columns are sometimes described as the brain's 'microprocessors', powering the thought process of the brain. Research shows that geniuses have fewer dopamine receptors in the thalamus.
Do intelligent people have different brains? ›In intelligent persons, certain brain regions are more strongly involved in the flow of information between brain regions, while other brain regions are less engaged. Differences in intelligence have so far mostly been attributed to differences in specific brain regions.
Do geniuses have smaller brains? ›Decades ago, scientists conducted testing on the person considered to be one of the most famous geniuses of all time: Albert Einstein. They found that there was no difference between how large his brain was compared to the brain size of individuals of average intelligence.
Who has 400 IQ? ›| Marilyn vos Savant | |
|---|---|
| Born | Marilyn Mach August 11, 1946 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Occupation | Author columnist |
| Spouse | Robert Jarvik ( m. 1987) |
| Children | 2 |
Elon Musk IQ is close to this starting point, with an estimated score of 155. The typical genius has an IQ of around 140.
What is IQ of Bill Gates? ›Bill Gates IQ is 151.45, despite the fact that he has never publicly disclosed it. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on his SATs in 1973, which converts to a score of 1590 out of 1600. With this IQ, Bill Gates is technically a genius because he is smarter than 99.96% of the population.
Why is Einstein so brilliant? ›The left and right hemispheres of Albert Einstein's brain were unusually well connected to each other and may have contributed to his brilliance, according to a new study conducted in part by Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk.
Did Einstein say Tesla was smarter? ›Answer and Explanation: Many sources report that, when asked how it felt to be the smartest man in the world, Albert Einstein said, 'I don't know, you'll have to ask Nikola Tesla. ' There is no documentation that Einstein ever made this statement about Tesla. It is almost certain that he never said it.
Who has the highest IQ in the world? ›William James Sidis has the World's Highest IQ. Anywhere from 250 to 300 is his IQ score, almost twice the score of Albert Einstein.
Do geniuses lazy? ›Science supports laziness
The data found that those with a high IQ got bored less easily, leading them to be less active and spend more time engaged in thought.
How can you tell if someone is intelligent? ›
- They are Empathetic and Compassionate. ...
- They Observe and Remember. ...
- They are Curious about the World. ...
- People Trust Them. ...
- They have a Strong Sense of Self. ...
- They have Self-Control. ...
- They Value Solitude. ...
- They are Passionate about Things that Interest Them.
Research suggests that highly intelligent people get bored easily and spend more time thinking, behaviour that comes across as 'laziness'. A study by the Florida Gulf Coast University looked at a group of 'thinkers' and 'non-thinkers', studying their activity levels over the course of a week.
Who slept 20 minutes every 4 hours? ›Leonardo da Vinci's sleep schedule included 20-minute naps every four hours. Da Vinci followed an extreme form of a polyphasic sleep schedule called the Uberman sleep cycle, which consists of 20-minute naps every four hours.
Are night people smarter? ›People who sleep and wake up late tend to be smarter.
Five years later, he interviewed 15,197 of the original respondents again. This time, they reported when they went to bed and when they woke up on both the weekdays and weekends. He found that people with high intelligence are likelier to be night owls.
The largest sleep study ever concludes that sleeping too little or too much has a negative impact on our cognitive ability, but not on our short-term memory.
Did Einstein only sleep 3 hours? ›10 HOURS OF SLEEP AND ONE-SECOND NAPS
It's common knowledge that sleep is good for your brain – and Einstein took this advice more seriously than most. He reportedly slept for at least 10 hours per day – nearly one and a half times as much as the average American today (6.8 hours).
So, how many hours of hard work must you put into a certain skill before you become great at it? According to research published in the best-selling book, ' OUTLIERS- by Malcolm Gladwell', it takes 10,000 hours to become a genius at something.
Are geniuses insomniac? ›Do gifted people have insomnia? Results indicated that although gifted students did trend toward experiencing more sleep disturbance, when compared to non-gifted students, no significant differences were found in mean bedtime, hours slept, sleeping problems, or use of electronic devices before bedtime.
How many hours does Bill Gates sleep? ›Bill Gates
Now, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder gets at least seven hours of shut-eye, and wrote that all people need that much, “even if you've convinced yourself otherwise.”
Elon Musk said that there are three things that he fears: religious extremism, a declining birthrate and artificial intelligence going wrong. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the richest man in the world.Musk has changed the electronic vehicles market with Tesla and is making inroads in space exploration with SpaceX.
What is Elon Musk's 5 hour rule? ›
Reading is a habit common between Bill Gates and Elon Musk.
It advocates learning something new actively for at least one hour each workday. The 5-hour rule's primary focus is investing at least five hours a week in deliberate learning which can have significant advantages in the long run.
“Early to bed, early to rise makes a [wo]man healthy, wealthy and wise.” – Ben Franklin. You've heard it said a million times before: the early bird catches the worm, and in the opinion of many highly successful people, the phrase is much more than a cliche.
What is the 3 2 1 rule sleep? ›3 hours before bed: No more food or alcohol. 2 hours before bed: No more work. 1 hour before bed: No more screen time (shut off all phones, TVs and computers). 0: The number of times you'll need to hit snooze in the AM.
Why do millionaires wake up early? ›Many successful people wake up early so that they are able to use undisturbed time to do stuff for themselves. Waking up early is great for getting organized, strategic thinking, and planning. Additionally, getting to the office first means fewer distractions from colleagues.
How long do geniuses sleep? ›Albert Einstein is said to have slept 10 hours per night, plus regular daytime naps. Other great achievers, inventors, and thinkers – such as Nikola Tesla, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Leonardo da Vinci, and Sir Isaac Newton – are said to have slept between two and four hours per day.
What was the IQ of Nikola Tesla? ›Nikola Tesla: IQ 160–310
Nikola Tesla, the Serbian-American inventor—and arch-rival of Thomas Edison—reportedly had an estimated IQ falling somewhere between 160 and 310, depending on the measure.
Taking two short “power naps” every day made it easier to focus, but it was important to nap the right way. When it comes to sleeping, humans get the short end of the stick compared to others in the animal kingdom.
What was Einstein's daily routine? ›He would usually finish his breakfast between 9 and 10 AM, reading the daily newspaper as he ate. Afterward, Einstein would leave for Princeton, where he gave lectures. If the weather was nice, he preferred to walk there, taking in the fresh air and getting some exercise.
What did Albert Einstein do every day? ›Albert Einstein had a simple, daily ritual: breakfast. walk or drive to work. work.
What is Albert Einstein's favorite hobby? ›His favorite past time was sailing. Einstein also loved going for walks around the town and that was one of his favorite activities. He also loved music and used to play the violin.
What time did Einstein sleep? ›
Albert Einstein is said to have slept 10 hours per night, plus regular daytime naps. Other great achievers, inventors, and thinkers – such as Nikola Tesla, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Leonardo da Vinci, and Sir Isaac Newton – are said to have slept between two and four hours per day.
What inspiration do you get from Einstein's life? ›Most people know of his theory of relativity and that famous little equation E=mc². Yet it's not for this or quantum physics that Einstein inspires me. It was his ability to think outside the square and to apply great creativity and imagination to science.
What did the geniuses have in their daily routines? ›A daily walk.
Charles Dickens famously took three-hour walks every afternoon — and what he observed on them fed directly into his writing. Tchaikovsky made do with a two-hour walk, but wouldn't return a moment early, convinced that cheating himself of the full 120 minutes would make him ill.
Staring up at the sky, hiking above the mountain, and walking across the sea are some tranquilizing practices. He once said, “I have no special talents.
What was Einstein's IQ? ›His performance beats those of physicists Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein, who were both estimated to have IQs around 160.
How many hours a day did Einstein study? ›Albert Einstein worked 10 hours a day, six days a week for years. He demonstrated a tremendous ability to focus on the work for extended periods and apply himself to big thinking.
What are 3 things Albert Einstein best known for? ›- On his quantum theory of light (that light is a particle or photon);
- On the existence of atoms (the Brownian movement);
- On his theory of special relativity (that length and time are not fixed and depend on the observer's frame of reference);
Dessert, sweets
“Einstein apparently had a very special preference for strawberries. Plesch [Einstein's doctor at the time] reports that during visits to his estate in Gatow, Einstein ate strawberries by the pound.” “The professor loved to eat strawberries.”
10 HOURS OF SLEEP AND ONE-SECOND NAPS
It's common knowledge that sleep is good for your brain – and Einstein took this advice more seriously than most. He reportedly slept for at least 10 hours per day – nearly one and a half times as much as the average American today (6.8 hours).
Albert Einstein once wrote: People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. Time, in other words, he said, is an illusion.