Insomnia

Free Counter

I couldn't sleep again (it's 6:30 am). Blah!!! I wondered if any famous people were insomniacs. I was surprised by what I found:

Famous Insomniacs

Marilyn Monroe

The troubled film star was a regular insomniac and frequently took sleeping pills in order to get to sleep. Over the years, her insomnia grew steadily worse until her death, supposedly from an overdose of sleeping tablets.

Vincent Van Gogh

Vang Gogh preferred to treat his insomnia himself. The artist's remedy involved a strong dose of camphor applied to his mattress and pillow, which whilst possible helping him sleep was also steadily poisoning him.

Napolean

Napolean Bonaparte built an empire on a few hours of sleep at a time. The 'Little Emperor' suffered so frequently from insomnia, rarely sleeping more than 4 hours a night, that he simply learned to live with the condition.

Judy Garland

Addicted to diet pills (amphetamines) from a young age, Judy Garland would sometimes be awake for days on end. To counter the effects of the speed, she would take sleeping pills, a dangerous combination that no doubt contributed to her eventual death.

Margaret Thatcher

The redoubtable British Prime minister was famous for only needing 4 or less hours of sleep a night. Some speculate that her motto 'sleep is for wimps', was in fact a cover for insomnia, a condition might be seen as a weakness in a leader.

Groucho Marx

Marx's insomnia started following the stock market crash of 1929 in which he lost a small fortune. To ease the symptoms of insomnia, Groucho would call strangers up in the dead of night and insult them.

Some cures:

W.C. Fields, actor : On his worst nights, he could only fall asleep under a beach umbrella being sprinkled by a garden hose.

Theodore Roosevelt, US president: a shot of cognac in a glass of milk.

Mark Twain, author: Twain once threw a pillow at the window of his bedroom while he was a guest in a friend’s house. When the satisfying crash let in what he thought was fresh air, he fell asleep at last. In the morning he discovered that he had broken a glass-enclosed bookcase.

More Famous Insomniacs:

Benjamin Franklin
Carey Grant
Catherine The Great
Charles Dickens
Thomas Edison

More Research For Scotland

Free Counter


Tomorrow will be a fun day. As further research before my trip to Scotland, I'm going to the Scottish Tartan Festival in Minden, La. There I will see Bagpipers and Drumers playing traditional music, several folk performers, take a quick lesson in the native language of Alba (Scotland) which is Gaelic, hear Scottish mythology, and see some Scottish games. It should be a blast. Of course I'll post some video and pics on here to share with everyone.