Daisuke Hori, a 40-year-old man from Hyogo prefecture in western Japan, has adopted an extraordinary sleep pattern, sleeping only 30 minutes a day for the past 12 years. Hori began cutting back on sleep with the goal of gaining more active hours in his day, a decision he believes has significantly improved his work efficiency.
Hori claims to have trained his body and brain to function normally with minimal sleep. According to him, “As long as you do sports or drink coffee an hour before eating, you can stave off drowsiness.” This unconventional routine, Hori says, has allowed him to “double” his life by effectively utilizing the extra hours.
【冷めた発言をしてないで一生懸命生きろ】
切り抜き🎬ショートスリーパーラジオ
(第265回2024年8月29日)ライブ配信の切り抜き動画です🤗
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— 日本ショートスリーパー育成協会💫寝るを極めるは活動を極める (@info_tanmin) September 3, 2024
The South China Morning Post reported that Hori emphasizes the importance of high-quality sleep over longer sleep durations for maintaining focus. He explained, “People who need sustained focus in their work benefit more from high-quality sleep than long sleep. For instance, doctors and firefighters have shorter rest periods but maintain high efficiency.”
Hori’s lifestyle caught the attention of Japan’s Yomiuri TV, which studied him closely for three days in a reality show titled Will You Go With Me?. The show documented Hori sleeping for just 26 minutes before waking up with energy, eating breakfast, heading to work, and even hitting the gym.
In 2016, Hori founded the Japan Short Sleepers Training Association, where he teaches classes on sleep and health. To date, he has trained over 2,100 students to become ultra-short sleepers like himself.
In another unusual case, an 80-year-old Vietnamese man named Thai Ngoc has reportedly not slept in over 60 years. Ngoc claims that a fever he caught as a child in 1962 caused him to lose the ability to sleep. Despite various therapies and sleeping pills, his sleeplessness remains unaffected.