The Insane Sleep Schedule Tesla and Da Vinci Used to Boost Creativity

This daily routine and alternative sleep cycles that both Da Vinci and Tesla followed may surprise you.

Have you ever wondered if the super geniuses of history had anything in common about their daily routines to help them boost their creativity, and help them become the genius we know them as today? It turns out there are a lot of shared creativity boosting exercises used by some of the greatest minds, however – some of them are more… sane than others.

Leonardo Da Vinci and Nikola Tesla both shared the same insane polyphasic sleep schedule called the “uberman.” Where they would rarely sleep for more than 2 hours a day; they saw it as a way to increase productivity, fit more working hours into the day, and help become more creative.

One of the mysterious ways they would boost their creative and inventive genius is through a state between sleeping and wakefulness called a hypnagogic state. If fact, some other prominent minds also attributed some of their creative genius to this state: Albert Einstein, Aristotle, Isaac Newton, Salvador Dali. Many of which had alternative sleep schedules. Could it have been in part what made them become a genius, on increased their creative energy levels? Or is this one life hack that could cause more harm than good?

Maybe an easier first step to becoming a genius would be to check out our previous video on speed reading:

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[fabi]

i like that you crossed out edison on the inventors list! :D

[one]

I’m on my 2nd year of this. It changed my life from someone who drank & partied, to getting a degree in physics with 2 patents.

[lukesanders]

This is blowing my mind. I noticed that while I usually struggled with normal everyday activities, had little stamina, and just felt sorta "out of it" at all times, on day 2 or 3 of being awake (usually stress or chemically induced insomnia) the creative part of my brain would be firing on all cylinders. I'd just get a conscious stream of lyrics to songs I've never heard before, ideas for funny videos, and just the overwhelming impulse to create art. However, I also noticed that when I'm well rested, like 2-3 months of 8 hours a night, that part of my brain is practically shut down or in a weird hibernation state. The only way to stimulate it is through sleep deprivation, and it sucks because it conflicts with my idea of healthy (a full 8 hours of sleep every night, a healthy diet and plenty of exercise). But I can't maintain what my brain identifies as a healthy stream of creative consciousness and also live according to my standards of "healthy". Quite the dilemma.

[shakarnfoster]

Funny thing I know to some it doesn’t mean a lot but I’ve had a total of 15 hrs sleep this week and it’s the most creative I’ve ever been in my whole life… made a demo, started on two other songs (finished 2 ) edited 2hrs worth of video, playing endless chords without stagnant-ion making magic on the looper & when I touch pen to paper it’s seamless I’m writing cohesive stanzas as seamless as turning on a tap

[wbeaty]

The trick with the key is actually an ancient non-tech method of getting to the fast-cycle sleep mode. Instead you could just use an alarm clock, setting it for a couple of minutes. This allows brief REM, while keeping you from actually sleeping. But once the Polyphasic turns on full blast, you don't need the key anymore, and you're trapped in insomnia, but periodically "hitting a wall" and having to briefly doze. (Yes, it takes about two days. But then if you want to return to normal sleeping, that takes a week or two!)

Also, note that breakthrough ideas are not "ideas." They're more like when Samuel Taylor Coleridge was "getting" Zanadu. Suddenly you need to write stuff down, so you don't lose it again ...and you end up frantically writing for ten minutes, or thirty, or an entire hour. That's not insight, that's taking dictation. And, after writing for a hour, and the stream dries up ...a day later it turns on again, and you get the "next chapter." I've had this happen up to five times, with the periodic bursts decreasing.

And of course you MUST write it down, or it will be gone again.

Who knows how long that Zanadu poem would have become, had not Coleridge been interrupted by a knock on his door. Once he got rid of the person, Coleridge found that the rest of the poem was long gone. Not enough Opium, I guess.

And, if you don't have a pencil and a napkin like JV Atanasoff, then you need a voice-recorder app for taking notes. (Atanasoff invented the modern computer, immediately having it stolen by Eckert and published as the Univac. Atanasoff suffered from insomnia, so he'd go out driving at 3AM, adding "night-drivers' trance" to the mix. Heh, also that's how the modern PCR dna-analyzer was invented by Mullis: night-driving trance state.)

[chrisgarin]

Holy hell. This is top-notch content. Thought I was watching Wendover or Half as Interesting. Sound quality, music, animation, editing, content — all perfect. Deserves more views!

[Jorge-dpks]

This channel needs to be in the millions

[mukahazah]

This vid deserves more views. Great job comrade🌺. I learned a lot.

[TheDrodder]

I worked with an IT director who tried this. He went from being one of the friendliest people I ever worked with to one of the crankiest. He eventually stopped because it was too much for him

[yeahyeahyeah]

I really loved that hesitation to mention that guy Edison 🤢🤮 🤣😅

💖Tesla💖

[chinmayeelenka]

Thanks for sharing this information with the best possible way you can by this beautiful video

[samename]

I can attest to this I did this for 1 yr and my creativity jumped and I wrote 2 books

[ARCLYPY]

I’ve been following this sleep pattern for 2 months now. I’m a neuroscience and cognitive psychology researcher and I’ve been in an unexplainable state of genius and creativity. It’s honestly incredible

[alexandersupertramp]

Great video.
Just found you by accident trying to find out why I sleep so strange.

[mikelavish]

Now that u mention it, I've written some of my best songs in this state late at night. I'm going to attempt the Uberman sleep pattern. Thanks for the info!

[antoinegibson]

Took Me Bout Thutty Minutes Ta Watch Dis 5 Min Needless Ta Say I Retained A Lot & Took Notes!! Thanks!

[makp.]

Nice, do more tesla and da Vinci vids

[davenewton]

I have been getting by on a few hours of sleep M-F for most of my adult working life (I am a commercial artist - I have a dayjob doing graphic art, plus do a lot of art at home). I am almost 62 and I recently found out my blood pressure was super high, in Stage 3 Hypertension. It turns out that lack of sleep is a leading cause of this.

[loodi]

I already knew about this technique, I searched for someone to explain it again to me, I'm really thinking about trying this right away... It might end up bad, but I think nothing too bad can't get out of it

[Unknown]

Nice video bro..your voice suits so well...