If anyone knows a thing or two about not throwing away his shot, it’s “Hamilton” creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The show raked in $32 million in advance ticket sales (as in before it even opened). Miranda received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant for the production last year. He won a Pulitzer Prize in January and a Grammy in February. And the show took home 11 Tony awards last month.
Miranda’s fans even think he’s so great they want him to run for political office. So how does he manage it all?
“Eight hours of sleep ― or as many as you can get,” he told HuffPost President and Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington.
When it comes to your voice and your sleep, there is no substitute, he explains. And he’s totally on cue.
Even as little as one night of not getting enough shuteye can make you more clumsy and more likely to have an accident. It will also make you more likely to catch a cold, more likely to overreact when something doesn’t go right and more likely to have memory problems and trouble focusing. Arguably all of those things could be deal breakers when it comes to giving a good performance.
Miranda knows all of that. He may have learned the lesson from Alexander Hamilton himself, who made some of his worst decisions when he was burned out and sleep deprived.
Watch the video above to hear more from Miranda about prioritizing sleep.
Sarah DiGiulio is The Huffington Post’s sleep reporter. You can contact her at sarah.digiulio@huffingtonpost.com.
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