Arianna Huffington's Dramatic Lesson After 'Coming to in a Pool of Blood and Realizing Nobody Had Shot Me' The media mogul and entrepreneur started her investigation into sleep because she herself wasn't getting enough rest.

By Catherine Clifford

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Arianna Huffington was trying to be the perfect entrepreneur and perfect mother at the same time when she collapsed, "coming to in a pool of blood and realizing nobody had shot me," she says.

At the same time that she was growing a fledgling media company, Huffington was working to honor her oldest daughter's rule that her mother should stay disconnected from her devices -- and her work -- while they were touring colleges. Huffington, now 65, did just that, but she didn't get away with it. In a dramatic wake-up call, Huffington lost consciousness and broke her cheekbone.

Related: Arianna Huffington: 'Sleep Deprivation Is the New Smoking'

"Building the Huffington Post, I had bought into the mythology that everything was dependent on me -- and that I had to do everything at the expense of sleep, health," Huffington says during a video interview with Entrepreneur.

Huffington recently published a book about the importance of sleep, The Sleep Revolution (Harmony, April 2016). In addition, she is also the author of 15 books and is the 70th most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes's most recent ranking.

Related: Arianna Huffington: Talk to Your Children About Your Struggles. It Allows Them to Understand Failure as a Stepping Stone to Success.

To hear how Huffington learned from her scary experience and changed her life, watch the video embedded above.

Catherine Clifford

Senior Entrepreneurship Writer at CNBC

Catherine Clifford is senior entrepreneurship writer at CNBC. She was formerly a senior writer at Entrepreneur.com, the small business reporter at CNNMoney and an assistant in the New York bureau for CNN. Clifford attended Columbia University where she earned a bachelor's degree. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. You can follow her on Twitter at @CatClifford.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Buying / Investing in Business

The Future of Farming is Here

How Greenfield Robotics is shaping the next generation of agriculture.

Business News

Citigroup Eliminated More Jobs This Week. Here's Which Roles Were Affected.

Citigroup aims to cut 20,000 jobs by 2026 and is now more than halfway to its goal.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Side Hustle

20 Ways to Make Money from Home in 2023

Making money from home doesn't have to be complicated. Check out these 20 smart ways to make cash from the comfort of your computer desk.

Management

Our CTO Gave Us an Unexpected Ultimatum — and It Was Every Tech CEO's Worst Nightmare. Here's How We Handled It.

After one the most pivotal moments in our company's history, our former CTO decided to hold us hostage. Upon introspection, the errors that brought us to this fateful moment were mine to own. This is a cautionary tale for budding tech entrepreneurs about managing key man risk and treating your teams right.