Some CEOs proudly profess to only sleep a few hours a night. Then there’s Marc Benioff.
Benioff, the billionaire CEO of Salesforce, recently shared some details about his routine in an interview with GQ. He spoke about his sleep schedule and how he uses meditation to get into a more zen headspace.
Benioff said that he averages about eight hours of sleep a night.
Though some business leaders swear they can survive on half the amount of sleep, Benioff isn’t one of them. Asked about the entrepreneurs who say they get only four hours of sleep a night, Benioff quickly batted the idea down.
“No, I don’t think that’s generally a good idea. Based on the medical research,” he told GQ.
Some other executives, like former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, and former General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt have previously said they average about 4-6 hours of sleep a night.
Four to six hours is about half the amount of recommended sleep for an average adult — seven to nine hours. Research has indicated that sleep deprivation can lead to issues like impaired cognitive function and a weakened immune system.
Benioff also has a strict meditation routine that he’s been dedicated to since 1992, he told GQ.
Benioff said that he starts his day off by meditating for 30-60 minutes, using it as a way to help manage his stress.
He is such a big fan of meditation that he encourages his employees to partake by having meditation rooms on every floor at a Salesforce building in San Francisco.
Benioff has worked closely with monks and nuns from Plum Village in France, even going so far as to invite them to stay at his San Francisco home in 2015. He relies on the monks for guidance and credits them with the idea of incorporating meditation spaces into Salesforce.
Benioff also spoke about his meditation habit in 2005 with SFGate, saying at the time that Salesforce offered twice-weekly yoga classes to its employees.
“I am very interested in keeping a clear head,” he said. “So I enjoy meditation, which I’ve been doing for over a decade — probably to help relieve the stress I was going through when I was working at Oracle.”
Though Benioff may seem to have his wellness routine down perfectly, he’s still open to changing it up. Benioff said that he still sleeps with his phone on his bedside table. When told in the interview that using your phone right before bed could have negative health effects, he said: “I’ll move it.”
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