History is littered with examples of the ‘mad scientist’, the brilliant mind that didn’t really conform to the societal norms of the time.

Nicolas Tesla swore by toe exercises, Newton believed that celibacy was the key to unlocking the mind, and mathematician Paul Erdos got crunked on amphetamine before a hardcore number-crunching session.

We’ll get to Einstein, but first this from the BBC:

When a friend bet [Erdos] $500 that he couldn’t stop for a month, he won but complained “You’ve set mathematics back a month”.

Classic Erdos.

Studies have shown that our daily habits play a massive role in unleashing the mind’s potential, with “around 40% of what distinguishes the brainiacs from the blockheads in adulthood [being] environmental”.

So what did Albert Einstein swear by, in order to make the most of his extraordinary talents? Let’s take a peek;

10 HOURS OF SLEEP AND ONE-SECOND NAPS

He reportedly slept for at least 10 hours per day – nearly one and a half times as much as the average American today…

…he also took regular naps. According to apocryphal legend, to make sure he didn’t overdo it he’d recline in his armchair with a spoon in his hand and a metal plate directly beneath. He’d allow himself to drift off for a second, then – bam! – the spoon would fall from his hand and the sound of it hitting the plate would wake him up.

DAILY WALKS

Einstein’s daily walk was sacred to him. While he was working at Princeton University, New Jersey, he’d walk the mile and a half journey there and back…

These constitutionals weren’t just for fitness – there’s mountains of evidence that walking can boost memory, creativity and problem-solving. For creativity at least, walking outside is even better.

SMOKING A PIPE

…Einstein was a hardened pipe smoker, known as much around campus for the cloud of smoke which followed him as for his theories. He famously loved to smoke, believing it “contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.”

Not really the behaviour of a genius, but in his defence, though evidence had been mounting since the 1940s, tobacco wasn’t publicly linked to lung cancer and other illnesses until 1962 – seven years after his death…

But there is one final mystery. An analysis of 20,000 adolescents in the United States, whose habits and health were followed for 15 years, found that irrespective of age, ethnicity or education, more intelligent children grow up to smoke more cigarettes, more frequently, than the rest of us.

Not too sure we’re going to recommend this life choice, but each to their own.

NO SOCKS

No list of Einstein’s eccentricities would be complete without a mention of his passionate aversion to socks. “When I was young,” he wrote in a letter to his cousin – and later, wife – Elsa, “I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in a sock. So I stopped wearing socks.”

…Regrettably, there haven’t been any studies looking directly at the impact of going sockless, but changing into casual clothing, as opposed to a more formal outfit, has been linked to poor performance on tests of abstract thinking.

He seemed to do alright.

Perhaps the most important lesson of all comes from one of his more famous quotes, during an interview back in 1955.

The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing.

I’m down for those one-second naps, but thousands of them strung together to make a solid 10 hours.

Albert Einstein – what a top bloke.

[source:bbc]