It seems to be a badge of honour, executives claiming they need minimum sleep and are workaholics with no time to switch off. Sleep is a luxury they can ill afford, they say.

The late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said she only needed four hours. Former President Donald Trump advises “don’t sleep more than you have to. I usually sleep about four hours per night”.

The richest woman in media, talk show queen Oprah Winfrey says she is good getting just five hours of sleep while Tesla boss Elon Musk says he gets six hours sleep and wakes up at 7.00 am every morning.

Talking to senior executives, many dismiss the importance of sleep and have very little time for it. It’s just work, work, work and making quarterly projections.

The richest man on Earth, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, doesn’t see it that way, placing great value on getting eight hours sleep a night and being fully rested to take on the day.

Speaking to the Economic Club in Washington about his habits, Bezos said: “I get eight hours sleep. I prioritise it unless I am travelling. Sometimes it is impossible. I am very focused on it. I need it because I think better, I have more energy, my mood is better.

“Think about it, as a senior executive what do you get paid to do? As a senior executive you get paid to make a small number of high-quality decisions. Your job is not to make thousands of decisions every day.”

Bezos is astute to qualify that and makes the point that, with a start-up company, you work all the hours you can in order to establish the company and reap the rewards later.

In his case, he built Amazon by meeting people’s needs first and foremost, taking years to make it into one of the most successful corporations in the world. Along the way he probably did have some sleepless nights and some where he grabbed a few hours.

Bezos continued: “Is it worth getting less sleep and the quality of your decisions are lower because you are tired and grouchy?

“If I make three good decision a day, that’s enough and they should be as high quality as I can make them. Warren Buffett says he’s good if he can make three good decisions a year!”