Being the president of the United States is honorable as it is tasking. The word POTUS, (President of the United States), is no doubt one of the most respected names in the world.
Apart from being the most important and feared leader in the free world, the POTUS also happens to be human, not superhuman. To manage all the weight of the world, they require the recommended 7 – 8 hours of sleep to function normally, but this is not always the case.
From waking up earlier than sunrise to jumping from meetings around the world, it’s not a surprise that past and present American Presidents have had to manage peculiar sleeping habits. Here we look at the strange sleeping habits of five American Presidents.
Surviving On Little Sleep
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To make sure that all the daily business is attended to promptly, American Presidents, like President Barack Obama, are known to have stayed up until the early hours of the morning. Of course, Obama was not the first POTUS to do this, but he had an interesting way of keeping up with this routine like clockwork. He never set the alarm while in the White House, thanks to the everyday wake-up call he received from the White House phone operator at 7am, after retiring around 1am.
Waking up earlier than the medically suggested 8 hours can take a toll on just about any person, let alone the POTUS with more responsibilities. No wonder many presidents finish their tenure in the office looking older than their peers.
Popping Sleeping Pills
Having a sleeping disorder and being the POTUS is rarely heard in the same sentence, but as shockingly as it may sound, past American Presidents have a history of popping sleeping pills to get a decent amount of sleep.
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William Taft, the 27th president of the US, had sleep apnea, which caused him to snore loudly and he was rumored to doze off during meetings. To keep this sleep disorder in check, he had to rely on sleeping pills.You can find out more about this sleep disorder, and safer treatment methods here.
When it comes to sleeping pills, President George W. Bush also used them to squeeze in hours of rest whenever he could, especially during flight time. He was reported to take naps while on Air Force One, but he may have had some help with sleeping pills. Of course, there is no way of telling if Bush was just sick of the torturous long-haul flights or he merely took advantage of the quietness of thousands of miles above sea level to catch up on his beauty rest.
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Snoring Loudly
All Americans loved president Theodore Roosevelt for his policies and character; however, he will undoubtedly go down in history as a notorious snorer. There is no evidence proving that Roosevelt had sleep apnea or used pills to control his snoring. The job of POTUS is very stressful, and stress is a symptom of snoring. So, you can understand if President Roosevelt couldn’t help but let his symptoms show.
Once, he was transferred to a separate floor at the hospital because his loud snores were keeping every other patient awake.
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Regular Napping
If there are any benefits linked to taking naps, then President Ronald Reagan benefited greatly. Napping is known to increase creativity, alertness, reduce stress, and several other advantages anyone would want to have. Ronald Reagan might have taken this practice a tad bit to the extreme; though, he was not the only president with a knack for regular naps.
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President Calvin Coolidge was reported to get more than 11 hours of rest every day, way more than most adults manage to get – president or not! Even though Coolidge seemed to have enjoyed his time subconscious rather than awake, he also lost his 16-year-old son. There would be no telling if he slept so often due to depression.
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While the lack of proper sleep can cause you to be in a depressive state, it is not the only factor to cause depression. Constant deprivation of sleep will accelerate your risk of getting depressed, causing a drop in your energy level. Depression causes hypersomnia (excessive sleepiness), which was common with President Coolidge.
Super Early Starts
If you ever wondered how President Donald Trump seems to have extra time on his hands replying to every Tweet directed at him, then you should also know that it may be thanks to Trump’s daily routine of getting out of bed very early. He is reported to manage only about 4 hours of sleep. No! President Trump does not rely on coffee or energy boosters to run the country, but he is always so full of energy and vigor.
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Caffeine can boost your performance in several ways, but it can also destroy your internal body clock. So while you can depend on a cup of coffee to keep you away from sleeping, ensure that you don’t rely on it and the recommended amount of daily sleep.