OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s daily routine: 15-hour fasts and low-dose sleeping pills

In his op-ed with Time magazine, Altman talks about prioritizing “five foundational behaviors,” which include getting sufficient sleep, eating healthily, spending time with nature, exercising, and meditating. Maintaining these practices has “helped him deal with his stress and anxiety and be more able to stay in the eye of the hurricane.”

Here’s a look at some of Altman’s daily habits that he’s talked about over the years. He has not responded to Business Insider’s request for comment.

Mornings:

Altman wrote in 2018 that he would drink a large shot of espresso immediately after waking up but otherwise rarely ate breakfast. He said he typically fasted for about 15 hours most days as a result.

He said that while catching up on emails, he used a full-spectrum LED light most mornings for about 10 to 15 minutes — a “ridiculous gain” for him.

He also said he avoided scheduling early meetings since that was when he was the most productive.

Work days:

Altman said he preferred taking his appointments in the afternoon but had an unconventional attitude toward carving out space for them.

“I find most meetings are best scheduled for 15-20 minutes, or 2 hours,” he wrote. “The default of 1 hour is usually wrong, and leads to a lot of wasted time.”

Broadly speaking, though, he said he avoided them as much as possible, finding that working in his office was more valuable.

“90% of the random meetings I take are a waste of time,” Altman wrote, though “the other 10% really make up for it.”

Instead, he said he prioritized leaving space in his schedule to “allow for chance encounters and exposure to new people and ideas” and also to think about what to work on.

Altman said he used a lot of lists for organization, but preferred to make them on paper rather than digitally.

His blog said they tracked “what I want to accomplish each year, each month, and each day,” continuing: “Lists are very focusing, and they help me with multitasking because I don’t have to keep as much in my head. If I’m not in the mood for some particular task, I can always find something else I’m excited to do.”

He said he would also drink another shot of espresso after lunch.

Nights:

Despite the caffeine, Altman said sleep was one of the most important things he needed in order to be productive. He said he avoided eating too much before bed and found skipping alcohol also helped.

He said he’d been a vegetarian since he was a child and would drink protein shakes frequently to supplement his diet — though he hated them. He said he tried to avoid inflammatory foods, such as very spicy dishes or anything that might “aggravate” his digestion, and also tried to avoid eating too much sugar. Still, he said he didn’t “have much willpower when it comes to sweet things.”

He also said quarterly blood testing had helped him supplement his diet with a range of vitamins, and he has been reported to take the diabetes drug metformin to slow down aging.

Altman said that when he went to bed, he would use a sleep tracker and preferred a “cold, dark, quiet room” with a good mattress. If he wasn’t chilly enough, he said, he’d use a cooling pad and would often take a low dose of either sleeping pills or cannabis to help him sleep.

Exercise:

Altman said he favored lifting heavy weights three times a week for an hour and high-intensity interval training occasionally, having tried a variety of options. “In addition to productivity gains, this is also the exercise program that makes me feel the best overall,” he said.