Kobe Bryant's Unusual Sleep Habits and Legendary Work Ethic

Kobe was notorious around the league for his incredible work ethic. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade once told a story about how during the 2008 Olympics, they got up one morning to find Kobe drenched in sweat, with ice on his knees, looking like he had not only put in a full workout already, but an intense one. According to Wade, "Everybody else just woke up... We're all yawning, and he's already three hours and a full workout into his day."

You have to keep in mind that this was nothing unusual for Kobe. If you look at any old MJ interviews, you'll notice by the way he talks that he has a level of respect for Kobe that seems to be higher than the respect he has for most other players, maybe even all other players. I believe the reason for this is because he put in the same kind of work ethic. I would go so far as to say that while Kobe might not be the best player of all-time, he was probably the hardest working player.

Something that helps promote Kobe's legendary image of hard work is probably that he practiced a biphasic sleep cycle. This is closely related to a similar sleep cycle called a polyphasic sleep cycle. The difference between the two is that biphasic sleepers sleep two times every night, while polyphasic sleepers generally have more than two sleep sessions in a 24-hour period. If you've never heard of this, it may sound like anyone that sleeps two or more times a day is being lazy, but that would be a misunderstanding. Polyphasic and biphasic sleepers break up their sleep into multiple sessions so that they can sleep less and still function normally. Kobe broke his sleep into two two-hour sessions, giving him a total of around 4 hours of sleep a night.

I'm not saying this to throw shade at Lebron, but it is difficult to discuss Kobe's sleep habits without comparing them to his since he sleeps 3 times longer! Yes, you heard that right. Lebron sleeps 12 hours a night and Kobe sleeps (or at least slept) 4 hours a night. This is only being mentioned here because it is interesting that these two players who are often compared and measured against each other by fans both have extreme sleep patterns but in opposite ways. Anyone could argue that Lebron has been smart since that may be the reason he has such incredible resilience to injuries, but it also seems to me that Kobe sacrificed sleep for greatness. However, when he talks about it, he speaks as if it didn't take any extra effort, as if his insane work ethic was natural to him and that it didn't seem stressful or difficult at all. That seems to be a trait found in many incredibly driven people.

What do you think about Kobe's work ethic and sleep patterns?