This year, Rihanna debuted her makeup line, released a Fenty x Puma collection, dominated the Met Gala, broke a significant amount of Billboard records, and won the Harvard Foundation’s Humanitarian of the Year award. And she somehow did it all on about four hours of sleep.
Rihanna divulged this jaw-dropping detail about her sleep schedule in the December cover story of Vogue Paris. “I have a lot of trouble switching off,” she said, according to WWD’stranslation of the French text. “Even when I get home early, which means before 1 a.m., I start binge-watching shows or documentaries, which I love. I can’t go straight to bed. As a matter of fact, I only sleep three or four hours a night.”
Sure, it’s possible Rihanna is one of those rare people who can get by with just a few hours of sleep every night. But we wouldn’t recommend you try this at home. As SELF previously reported, sleep deprivation can have long-term health effects on those of us who aren’t Rihanna, including weakening your immune system and worsening your heart health.
That’s why the CDC recommends adults get between seven and eight hours of sleep a night. Getting less than that can put you at risk for health issues that unfortunately can’t be covered up by your favorite Fenty makeup product.
Luckily, there are some small ways to help you get the amount of sleep your body needs.
First off, the pre-snooze binge-watching Rihanna describes is obviously a major deterrent to a good night’s slumber. You should aim to lower your lights (including your phone) an hour before going to bed, because the blue light that screens emit can interfere with the hormones in your body that regulate your sleep cycle. You can also use the iPhone’s Night Shift feature or software like f.lux to switch your screens to orange light.
You should do your best to go to bed and wake up at around the same time every day, which helps keep your body in a regular sleep rhythm. Getting regular physical activity (at least two hours before bedtime) can also make it easier to get good sleep. Essentially, it’s all about keeping your body on a schedule, which will help prepare you for sleep.
Of course, we can’t guarantee that doing all of this will allow you to accomplish half of what Rihanna does on four hours of sleep—but getting a bit more sleep will make it that much easier to appreciate all that she’s given us this year.
