"Of course, this is what makes many cel­e­brat­ed thinkers and artists so pro­duc­tive. That and the extra hours some gain by sac­ri­fic­ing sleep. Voltaire report­ed­ly drank up to 50 cups of cof­fee a day, and seems to have suf­fered no par­tic­u­lar­ly ill effects. Balzac did the same, and died at 51. The caf­feine may have had some­thing to do with it."
"Engi­neer and vision­ary Fuller intend­ed his "Dymax­ion" brand to rev­o­lu­tion­ize every aspect of human life, or-in the now-slight­ly-dat­ed par­lance of our obses­sion with all things hacking-he engi­neered a series of rad­i­cal "life­hacks." Giv­en his views on sleep, that seem­ing­ly essen­tial activ­i­ty also received a Dymax­ion upgrade, the trade­marked name com­bin­ing "dynam­ic," "max­i­mum," and "ten­sion." "Two hours of sleep a day," Fuller announced, "is plen­ty.""
Restlessness can accompany exceptional creativity, producing high productivity and prompts for sacrificial sleep. Some thinkers and artists use stimulants and reduced sleep to extend working hours. Voltaire reportedly drank up to fifty cups of coffee daily without obvious ill effects, while Balzac drank heavily and died at fifty-one, suggesting caffeine may contribute to health risks. Socrates and Samuel Johnson regarded sleep as wasted time. Buckminster Fuller promoted radical life-hacks and reduced-sleep regimens under his Dymaxion brand, trademarking a name that combined "dynamic," "maximum," and "tension," and claimed two hours of sleep per day sufficed, testing the idea on himself.
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