Yoshiro Nakamatsu would starve his brain of oxygen to get big ideas.

At 85, Nakamatsu is one of Japan's greatest inventors. He patented the floppy disk back in 1952 and has racked up 3,300 patents. He's the father of the karaoke machine, the sauce pump, the taxicab meter, and the digital watch.

To feed his inventiveness, he likes to push his brain and body to the limit. He regularly goes swimming and holds his head underwater to the point of nearly drowning.

“To starve the brain of oxygen,” he once explained, “you must dive deep and allow the water pressure to deprive the brain of blood. Zero-point-five seconds before death, I visualize an invention.”

Then he jots down his inspiration on an underwater notepad and heads back to the surface.