An insight into the sleeping patterns of 8 very successful people.

There is no denying the power a good night’s sleep can have on our mindset.

Without it, we can be left feeling grumpy, irritable and lethargic. If the struggle to sleep continues we can face lack of concentration, blurred vision. But with all the evidence (sometime conflicting) out there about how much and what kind of sleep we need, it’s interesting to hear that you can be successful no matter how many winks you manage.

It’s about finding what works for you. HomeArena published an infographic (also published by Time) that shows just how varied the routines of some of the world’s best and brightest are.

Here are a list of eight very successful individuals with very different sleeping patterns:

Bill Gates: The Microsoft magnate, who is believed to be worth US$79.7 billion, is a creature of habit. He goes to bed at midnight and rises at 7:00am.

Seven hours.

Marissa Mayer: The Yahoo! CEO is clearly all about efficiency. Mayer is awake until 12:00am and up again as early as 4:00am!

Four-six hours.

Tim Cook: Early to bed and early to rise. Apple’s CEO is tucked up by 9:30pm, but is up with the sparrows at 4:30am.

Seven hours.

Winston Churchill: On the other end of the spectrum was the famous British PM. He slept five hours a day. And we mean DAY… not night. Churchill made it to bed at around 3:00am, and began his day at 8:00am.

Five hours.

Sir Richard Branson: Virgin founder Branson undoubtedly has his days full, and like Gates, doesn’t make it to bed until midnight. But he’s also an early riser, starting his day at five or six am.

Five-six hours.

Jayne-Anne Gadhia: Gadhia was the SEO of Virgin Money for five years, until 2006. She’s also worked for The Royal Bank of Scotland. For some it’s all about the details, and after going to bed at 10:30pm, Gadhia wakes each day at a very specific 6:20am.

Eight hours (well, technically 7.83).

Ellen DeGeneres: She’s a world renowned comedian, an actress and has hosted her extremely popular talk-show for over 15 years. And she likes her sleep. Ellen is in bed at 11:00pm and up at a respectable 7:00am.

Eight hours.

Leo Widrich: He’s not doing much to buck the ‘young-techie’ stereotype. Widrich is the co-founder and COO of social-media management tool Buffer. He goes to bed at 1:00am, and when most of us are sitting down at our desks with our second coffee for the morning, he is rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Eight hours.

How much sleep to you get? Are you a creature of habit or do you change it up depending on how you feel?