“Both the top two groups slept an average of 8.5 hours out of every 24 – including a twenty- to thirty-minute nap in the midafternoon. The least skilled group still slept 7.8 hours a night. The average American, by contrast, sleeps an average of 6 to 6.5 hours a night. Sleep not only serves a restorative purpose but also allows the brain to more effectively consolidate and retain daytime learning. The top violinists recognized this intuitively, and slept accordingly.”