Superwomen?: Famous Work-a-holics with Insomnia

I hated napping as a child. During nap time at preschool, I would pretend I was sleeping when my teacher walked by, then turn over once she'd left, open my eyes and day dream.

"Something exciting's going to happen and you're going to miss it," I'd think to myself.

Now, naps are like a rare delicacy: once I'm able to afford one, I take advantage of it and bask in it.

As a college student with a demanding major, my free time is limited and I pull all-nighters at least twice a week. Often frustrated when seeing 3 a.m. on my clock—while halfway through a 200-page reading—I wonder if I'm the only one losing z's.

According to a study by Brown University, 73% of college students have sleep problems, including sleep deprivation and insomnia.

But college students aren't the only ones losing sleep. We know that any hard working person can potentially find themselves awake for days at a time. Below is a list of well-known insomniacs:

Marilyn Monroe

Ed Feingersh

It's widely believed that this vintage bombshell died from a drug overdose. According to a 2013 study done by the Sleep Medicine journal, those drugs were sleeping pills.

"[Monroe] valued nocturnal sleep to help her look good at work, but developed insomnia during her rise to fame in the context of stage fright."

The study also reveals that Monroe was prescribed 12 different psychoactive drugs at once and they ultimately "complicated the course of [her] insomnia and had a negative effect on her general health and behaviour."

Jessica Simpson

Mario Testino for Vanity Fair

For this singer, fashion designer and mother, sleep is a simple matter of the brain.

“It’s more of a mental thing. I tell myself, ‘I cannot fall asleep, there’s no way if I get into bed right now I’m gonna fall asleep.’ I end up just laying on the floor and falling asleep,” Simpson tells the New York Post. “That’s the advice I’ve gotten — don’t ever get into bed until you know that it’s time to go to sleep, or else you’ll lay there and that’s when you start tossing and turning… I’ll start thinking about what I wanna dream about… It’s called lucid dreaming. I’m a little sexually frustrated right now, so if you tell yourself what you’re gonna dream about then you can have a really great dream.”

Madonna

Tom Munro for Harper's Bazaar

Passion keeps Madonna's mind racing at night.

ABC News published an excerpt from a tell-all book, "Life with my Sister Madonna." In the excerpt, her brother recounts her sleepless nights:

"Madonna's insomnia only became apparent to me when we were living together in downtown Manhattan at the start of her career. Whenever I woke up during the night, she would be in the living room, perched on white futon, which—no matter how many times we washed the floor—was always dirty. She was usually dressed in a white oversize men's T-shirt, baggy, white cowboy-print sweats, sucking Hot Tamales, her favorite cinnamon-flavored candies, and reading poetry—often Anne Sexton whose lines sometimes inspired her lyrics. Or the diaries of Anais Nin, who along with Joan of Arc, is one of her heroines. Anything to get her through those long, hot airless Manhattan nights, nights when her mind didn't switch off, when fantastical candy-colored visions of her future sparkled in her brain. Unbridled desire for fame and fortune, you see, is incompatible with sleep."

Judy Garland

MGM

According to Dreaminglife.org, REMmedical.com and the LA Times, Garland aka Dorothy Gale got hooked on sleeping pills to control insomnia she developed from the stresses of Hollywood.

Similar to Monroe, the star is believed to have died from an overdose of these drugs.

Lady GaGa

Sebastian Faena for Harper's Bazaar

With outrageous publicity stunts and electic performances, this recording artist is often compared to Madonna.

The two artists also seem to share a burning passion and desire for success.

GaGa tells DNA India, "fame is like rocket fuel. The more my fans like what I'm doing, the more I want to give back to them. And my passion is so strong I can't sleep - I haven't slept for three days."

However, unlike many troubled sleepers, DNA India reports that she refuses to medicate herself.

"I'm already crazy. I'm a fearless person. I think it creeps up on you. I don't think it can be stopped. If my destiny is to lose my mind because of fame, then that's my destiny. But my passion still means more than anything," GaGa told Contactmusic.

If you enjoyed this article, check out this article on legendary men and their nonexistent sleep schedules: Great People Sleep Less?

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