I think those who sleep less, have less chance to see dreams! :)

I am a lot in horizontal position

Cheers

The amount of time a person needs to sleep will not be definitive to his intelligence level.  The number of hours one needs depends on how he spends his day and how he sleeps at night. The body will to talk to a healthy person if he needs more sleep or not. If you lose or gain weight, yawn, has little patience, your belly grows, has little patience for everything and everydody, gets sick easily, you should consult a doctor and get professional help. The list of signs you need more sleep could be so much longer that I would think twice before saying this is a great person or if he has a GREAT problem instead. And what if this is a different person indeed and yet sleeps very little? I would tell him to look for support and he would be  MUCH greater without that problem. An ordinary person should sleep as many as 8 hours a day. Real great people change the world and themselves.

Great people vary with the needed sleeping time like normal humans do it through the whole life. Babies up to 16 h, adolescents in puberty 11-13 h, older people 6-8h. etc.

Indeed the greatest variations depend on daily stress, joyful expectations, illness, pains  and consumption from diverse drinks, drugs and food.

I think we have no strong rule. Old people have short times during the day when their brain switches off, short dozing periods. Some people are sleeping during the working time (no so much appreciated by superiors).

Ideas can come at any time and any place. That's nature!

The following article discusses the relationship between sleep and growth in patients: "Relationship between sleep and growth in patients with reversible somatotropin deficiency (psychosocial dwarfism)" by Georg Wolffa and John Money.

Abstract: In a partly retrospective, partly follow-up study, 27 patients aged 1 year 10 months to 16 years 2 months with reversible somatotropin deficiency, showed a relationship between the rate of statural growth and sleep, graded as good, poor, or mixed. During periods of good sleep the overall growth rate averaged 1·04 cm per month, and during periods of poor sleep it averaged 0·34 cm per month (t=8·46, df=32, P

@Abedallah: In animal research we will talk about (energy-based) trade-offs between life-history traits, in this case a trade-off between the number of hours sleeping and growth rate.

This trade-off is expressed within individuals sampled at different moments, i.e. when individual A with body reserve A sleeps less and is more active, less energy can be invested in growth. Of course, this will also depend on the individual energy stores available. For instance, the trade-off expressed within individuals might change between individuals that have higher versus lower body energy stores.

Because different individuals A and B can have different physiology/ neuroendocrine systems, people with less sleep might grow faster. One mechanism might be that individuals that sleep less eat more to increase the body energy store and therefore can invest more in growth, etc....

Many biology-based mechanisms can explain trade-offs at different scales of analysis

Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest inventors of the world, has claimed to sleep just 2 - 3 hours a day! He was an inventor who have said: "I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything." What do You think about his explanation!?

http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Nikola-Tesla-rarely-sleep

I think those who sleep less, have less chance to see dreams! :)

It depends upon individual to individual.After awaking, if you feel comfortable and fresh it means you need no more sleep.

 May be they by chance were patients of insomnia!

Great people have the burden on their mind to lead people or to that of burden. Apart from great people, very rich people do sleep less thinking whole night how to earn more. Their every moment meeting people, attending a marriage or a funeral is not wasted without using for their ulterior or altruistic motives. They cannot sleep even in highly comfortable and cosy bed.

There are people but rare who cannot sleep due to fear of God due to their accountability for their deeds and lapses in duties to others on the day of reckoning.

Great baroque composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, also slept very less..

When dreams educate/inspire, how to define sleep?

Great people sleep less. I can say yes, because their mind is busy day and night. All the time they are keen and anxious that every thing should be right. Usually they don not accept mistakes, either done by them or by others.

In a way, those who sleep less; dream big!!!

Dear All. It may be true. But here I would like to add the quality of sleep is also important than quantity. As some time few minutes nap do wonders where as sleep of 8-10 hours could not help in activating ones day. Thanks

Are we biased? In almost all cultures longer sleep is consider to be a stigma for laziness. There may be more successful people who sleep longer than 8 hours a day but we tend not to mention their sleep routine as the reason for success. I have seen a few successful scientists with "Thatcher gene"  who actually falls asleep frequently during major meetings. I have known a young scientist who has published two 1st author papers in Science actually sleeps 8-10 hours a day. Most of us need to sleep more than 6 hours a day and thanks God we are the majority.

This is true that the great people sleep less that is why they achieve much more in the same time than the average ones.

Some people will need less sleep and some will need more of it. As a said before. Listen to your body. But if one can not sleep because his mind is busy at all times, he should question to whom he wants to listen to when deciding if he is a great person or not. If he is happy with the judgement of his commuty he may be called great for some time or a long time after his death. If he wants to be judged great by his spouse and children he will have to learn how to balance his time. His family will never stop calling him great, they will always support him. What is the fun to have a prize in your house when you have to admire it alone?

If some people work a lot without much sleep required, and other people need a lot of sleep, how do you coordinate research activity in a collaboration network?

Do those that do not sleep (always) work alone?

Marcel, it will depend on their research methods and how they register their findings. If one needs a "substance" being produced or analyzed by others, then he will have to count on a bigger team. 

In my opinion, the brain needs sleep.

The optimal hours number depends on the psychic state, the degree of social problems, other responsibilities, ...

I think that brains works more than others, in sleeps, it's affects the needed hours numbers.

Sleeping is very essential for good health and to give our brain rest though sleeping at noon is not good which I had heard.

Please see the stories of 10 Successful People (from Barack Obama to Thomas Edison) Who Don’t Sleep Much in the following link:

http://www.youmotivation.com/inspirational-articles/10-successful-people-who-dont-sleep-much-4466

Great! Perhaps there is also a list of 10 successful people who sleep much in the following link: xxxxx

The average amount of sleep a person needs is from 6 - 8 hours per day

Sleep is one of the basic biological needs, a good night's sleep can improve the quality of life. By the way, Einstein slept half the day while the German romantic Heinrich Heine was sleeping marked as one of the most precious "discoveries".

Sleep is a dynamic period in which many important processing, restoration, and strengthening occurs

The sleeping amount vary even among the great people and they all don't take equal amount of sleep.

@Ajay. It follows the principles of biodiversity, or not?

Yes, dear Eraldo. I completely agree with you that diversity is a constant part of human nature.

Yes Marcel, It definitely follows the principle of biodiversity and quality of sleep matters first, then quantity.

There are only 24 hours in a day; that's something even business titans and world leaders can't change. But you can change how you use them. Some people are genetically wired to wake up earlier or sleep less. Others seem to thrive on less sleep only through sheer determination. The latter is an open option for everyone to create more time for constructive works.

There is also plasticity in sleeping patterns, perhaps varying seasonally for instance?

Not only for instance, by sure. It´s better to oversleep dark winter nights instead to sleep during amazing midsummer nights!

I sleep very less, but it goes only to show that the converse of the premise "Great people sleep very less" is not true.

Nice humour, dear Sundarapandian.

But the resume is to simple. My opinion is still, no context of sleeping duration and ingenuity. Don´t measure your sleeping demand and try to calculate anything about your importance, genius or anything else. Just sleep if have the need to do it. Your importance is derived from your awake phases.

Dear @Hanno and friends,  please read the following article, not long one, How to Sleep Your Way to the Top! "...Indeed, there's practically no element of workplace success that's not improved by sleep and, accordingly, diminished by lack of sleep. Creativity, ingenuity, confidence, leadership, decision making -- all of these can be enhanced simply by sleeping more."

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121002115548-143695135-how-to-sleep-your-way-to-the-top-literally

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/29/watch-simple-sleep-tips_n_1550928.html

Thanks dear Ljubomir,

I find all all my thoughts and convincements. Do you think, that we couldn´t simply accept that there are humans with better intellect, strength and energy and a far better working brain as we normal humans have it?

I do agree dear @Hanno! Yes, "there are humans with better intellect, strength and energy and a far better working brain as we normal humans have it"! It is completely natural!

Dear Hanno & Ljubomir,I do agree with the observation of you both. It is because I have an example in my home. My daughter sleep less and studies several hours in a row and doing well in her M. Tech. In contrast, my son, after returning home does touch books related to his B. Tech and sleeps more than twelve hours and whatever leisure time he has, spends on readings books on arts, culture, crime and mystery. or watching T.V. But, he is doing extra well compared to his sister in terms of grades.

It's unclear if all short sleepers are high achievers, they do have more time in the day to do things, and keep finding more interesting things to do than sleep, often doing several things at once. When life gets busy, sleep tends to fall to the bottom of our priority lists, leaving our minds and bodies stressed, sick and burned-out. A few studies have suggested that some short sleepers may have hypomania, a mild form of mania with racing thoughts and few inhibitions. Sleeping schedule is not related to success or greatness. It is natural and there is no universal number when it comes to getting enough sleep. Different people function better by sleeping on different schedules.

Dear Yogesh,

may be that mini sleepers have more time to do things, like you posted it. That doesn´t mean that they do better things, some people with more time are just very slow, slower as effective workers or thinkers, or they are just ineffective to handle in spite of a lot of time.

I think we should accept that this needed sleeping time is similarly randomly distributed like most things and attitudes in life and that it´s impossible to construct a reliable context between genius and needs for sleeping durations.

Yes, dear Hanno, I agree with your views. I have already mentioned that sleeping schedule is not related to success or greatness.

Dear Yogesh - I fully agree with  your view that sleeping schedule is not related to success or greatness. Doctors advise us a minimum of 6-7 hours sleep per day for good health. As I work against many deadlines, I sleep very less, but when I attend Conferences for delivering plenary lectures, I take a break from regular work and sleep for longer hours.

Best wishes, Sundar

Albert Einstein liked to sleep 10 hours a night, unless he was working very hard on an idea. He claimed that his dreams helped him to invent. Also he felt that naps "refreshed the mind" and that they helped him to be more creative.