while you were sleeping

Dakota Johnson: “Sleep Is My Number One Priority In Life”

Inside Dakota Johnson there are two wolves. They are both asleep.
dakota johnson
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images.

Sometimes, the question isn’t “when do you go to sleep?” but “wait, when are you awake?” Such is the case for actor Dakota Johnson, who proudly declared, “Sleep is my number one priority in life” in a new interview with the Wall Street Journal.

When asked what a typical Monday morning is like for her, Johnson revealed that she opts out of the idea of mornings if at all possible, due to her intense commitment to not being awake.

“I don’t have a regular [wake-up] time,” she said. “It depends on what’s happening in my life. If I’m not working, if I have a day off on a Monday, then I will sleep as long as I can. Sleep is my number one priority in life.”

She declared that she is “not functional if I get less than 10” hours of sleep, and that she “can easily go 14 hours.” Snooze buttons the world around are absolutely quaking.

You know who is probably nodding silently in earnest approval somewhere in the world? Ed Kelce, he of the “[Taylor Swift] realizes how committed Travis [Kelce] is to sleep, 10 hours a day” relationship endorsement. And note: Travis is a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. That's a football team. A big part of his job is running. Even when the football is nowhere near him: Running. Lots of squats, some human bumper cars, more running. And his father, who has raised not one but two highly successful NFL players (hello to you, Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles) is out here implying that 10 hours a day is a pretty demanding sleep schedule. Johnson’s 14 hours? Impressive.

In her (limited) waking hours, she revealed, Johnson does Pilates, hot yoga, and body weight training five days a week, meditates “every day, twice a day,” and takes many, many baths.

“I will get in a bathtub at any moment, any time of the day,” she said, channeling bubble bath enthusiast Paris Hilton. “If in the middle of the day, I’m like, ‘Oh God, what is this world?’ I’ll get in the bathtub. I find water really grounding.”

On top of her physical chill-out activities, Johnson revealed another thought that helps her cope. The best advice she’s ever gotten, she said, is that “the news cycle is pretty much only 24 hours.” And when you’re unconscious for 14 of those? You’re in business, baby.