Hillary Clinton On Life After Being Secretary Of State: 'I Hope To Get To Sleep In'

Hillary Clinton IsTired

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Hillary Clinton has important plans for when John Kerry succeeds her as Secretary of State on Friday. She's finally going to get some sleep.

When asked if she does in fact have plans to run for president in 2016, she told ABC's Cynthia McFadden that she's "not focused" on a campaign.

"I hope I get to sleep in," she told McFadden. "It will be the first time in many years. I have no office to go to, no schedule to keep, no work to do. That will probably last a few days then I will be up and going with my new projects," she said.

A new memoir may also be on the horizon for Clinton, BuzzFeed reported, but not before she catches up "on about 20 years of sleep deprivation," she said in a press conference.

Overall, she's looking forward to leading a "normal" life for the time being. As she told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell:

I don't have any real plans to make any decisions. I'm looking forward to some very quiet time catching up on everything from sleep, to reading, to walking, with my family. I think it's hard to imagine for me what it will be like next week when I wake and have nowhere to go. Maybe I'll go back to sleep for a change!

It shouldn't be hard for Clinton to fall asleep, considering those who know her have said she can do so command. But falling asleep in anything less than 10 minutes can be a sign of a larger problem, ABC News reported, which could be the case with Clinton, since she's been hoping to get "untired" since November.

"I am so looking forward to next year," she told the New York Times then:

I just want to sleep and exercise and travel for fun. And relax. It sounds so ordinary, but I haven't done it for 20 years. I would like to see whether I can get untired. I work out and stuff, but I don't do it enough and I don't do it hard enough because I can't expend that much energy on it.

It's no surprise she's feeling more than a little sleep deprived: Clinton has had 1,700 meetings with world leaders in the past four years, according to ABC's McFadden. Political office requires a notoriously hectic schedule -- Michelle Obama, for instance, has said that she and the President are in the gym before dawn to make sure they fit a workout in every day.

But skimping on sleep comes with its downsides on the job. "As I've pointed out before, sleep plays a vital role in decision-making," HuffPost editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington wrote in a blog chalking mistakes made by Mitt Romney's campaign up to lack of sleep. She explained:

According to the Harvard Medical School's Division of Sleep Medicine, lack of sleep was a "significant factor" or played a "critical role" in the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the wrecking of the Exxon Valdez, and the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle.

Texas Governor Rick Perry had a moment of sleep-deprivation-fueled confusion during his own presidential campaign -- the now famous "Oops."

But getting enough sleep is crucial also to a politician's -- and anyone's -- health. Skimping on sleep has been linked to a whole host of worrisome health effects, like increased risk of obesity, anxiety, stroke, heart and memory problems, among others.

Should Clinton ultimately decide to run in 2016, she might have to become a napper. Check out these other surprising sleep habits of former presidents:

The Sleep Apnea Sufferer: William Howard Taft

Sleep Habits Of The Presidents

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