Why Superstars Like Oprah and Sheryl Sandberg Swear by Early Bedtimes

Some of us are night owls, whose natural body rhythms push us to go to bed later. But a lot of business owners who stay up late, aren’t among them. You may stay up because you love the peace and quiet to work on your business. Others fall prey to the lure of social media. 

Whatever reason you’ve drifted into staying up late, there are a couple of people who would like to remind you that going to bed early isn’t just for kids and grandparents. Oprah Winfrey and Sheryl Sandberg swear by bedtimes your grandma would be proud of. Science suggests these superstars are onto something. 

It’s cool to go to bed at the same time as granny. 

One night “I called Mark [Zuckerberg] at 9 p.m. He said he was at a dinner and asked if he could call later so I told him I’d be up for another 30 minutes,” Sandberg related on Quora. “The next morning he reached out asking if I was feeling ok; he assumed that I’d been sick since I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. I explained that with two young children, 9:30 p.m. was often my normal bed time.” 

Great minds apparently think alike.

“I usually get into bed,” Oprah recorded next to 10 p.m. in a diary she created for The Hollywood Reporter. 

The point here is some of the world’s most accomplished people regularly turn in at hours that your teenage self would have considered deeply uncool (Tim Cook doesn’t even make it to nine). Maybe that’s because they know the science.

• Early snoozers worry less. One recent study showed those who go to bed earlier, worry less. Maybe that’s just because stress can keep you up, but the researchers suggest sleeping earlier might also help ease anxiety. 

• You’ll probably eat healthier. It’s not just you standing in front of the fridge in the middle of the night. Neuroscience research suggests the more tired you become later in the day, the more you crave junk food.

• You’re more likely to sleep soundly. As Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep explains, the earlier you turn in, the more likely you are to sleep soundly. This has to do with the natural balance between REM and non-REM sleep, which shifts throughout the night.  

• You may end up happier. Early snoozers are generally also early risers, which means they spend more time in sunlight, and exposure to sun has been linked to better mood. 

• You might even be more attractive. Swedish research shows that sleep quality has a big impact on our appearance, so while going to bed early doesn’t guarantee you’ll wake up gorgeous, it does make it easier to look your best. 

The point isn’t that early bedtimes are right for everyone. They’re not. Just keep in mind that a fair amount of research–and some very successful people–suggests those supposedly uncool early bedtimes actually offer big benefits.