In a candid admission during a meeting at the White House on Wednesday night, President Joe Biden told nearly two dozen Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, even suggesting he should avoid events held after 8 p.m., the New York Times reported Thursday.

The 81-year-old president’s remarks come amid previous reports that his most effective working hours are between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. During the gathering, Biden also responded to a health-related question from Hawaii Gov. Josh Green by humorously saying, “just my brain,” a comment that was not recognized as a joke by at least one governor present.

“President [George W.] Bush went to bed at 9, and President [Barack] Obama made dinner at 6:30,” Biden-Harris campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said in a statement to the Times. “Normal presidents strike a balance, and so does Joe Biden. Hardly the same rigor as Donald Trump who spends half of his day ranting on Truth Social about plans that would cause a recession and the other half golfing.” However, it’s notable that Bush was 62 when he left office in January 2009, and Obama was 55 when he completed his terms. In contrast, Biden, already the oldest president in US history, would be 86 if he completes a second term.

In a separate report published Thursday by New York magazine, longtime friends of the first family revealed that Biden has struggled with remembering names. On at least one occasion, First Lady Jill Biden had to assist him by “feeding” a greeting to a Democratic mega-donor at a White House reception.

“It hasn’t been good for a long time, but it’s gotten so much worse,” said a witness to the exchange. Additionally, journalist Olivia Nuzzi reported that Biden has become increasingly difficult to reach and is often “cocooned within mounting layers of bureaucracy, spoken for more than he was speaking or spoken to.”

These disclosures come as Biden continues to publicly insist on running for a second term, despite a challenging debate performance against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on June 27 in Atlanta. The president reportedly opened the governors’ meeting by reaffirming his campaign, prompting some attendees to complain that this preempted any serious discussion about the state of the race.

Earlier this week, Biden attributed his debate performance to extensive foreign travel, though he had been in the Eastern Time Zone for 10 days prior, including a week of preparation at Camp David. Initially, the White House cited a “cold” as the cause of Biden’s struggles on stage, though he was seen greeting patrons at a Waffle House after the debate.

Following the debate, Axios reported that Biden is prone to gaffes and fatigue during events held outside his peak hours. That same weekend, the Biden campaign held a fundraiser at the home of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, aimed at reassuring wealthy donors about the president’s reelection campaign.

“In total, his [Biden’s] remarks would last for exactly ten minutes,” Nuzzi wrote, “long enough to inspire confidence in his abilities, advisers hoped, but not so long that he was at increased risk of calling those abilities further into question.”

“The worry is not that Biden will say something overly candid,” the reporter added, “or say something he didn’t mean to say, but that he will communicate through his appearance that he is not really there.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)