THE BUSINESS OF Sleep

Mouth tapes, specialised teas, gummies, and much more guarantee us improved sleep. But is the growing sleep economy simply feeding us empty promises?

- KONIKA DATTA

Sleep is today’s social currency. What was a basic everyday necessity is now an industry estimated to be worth over half a trillion dollars. This boom in sleep culture is particularly fuelled by the current generation who are rejecting the ‘girl boss’ era and prioritising sleep and rest, seeing it as a form of self-care and wellness rather than just a basic need. Earlier, struggling with sleep would entail simply popping in a sleep aid, but now, we’ve reached a point where natural sleep isn’t enough – it needs to be bio-hacked, tracked, and optimised.

Broadly speaking, there are four major categories we gravitate toward to help us enhance our sleep – fitness wearables to detect the quality of sleep, sunrise alarm clocks to wake up better in the morning, supplements to help us sleep easily, and mouth tapes to improve sleep quality. This shift in our mindset towards rest is also evident in rising social media trends, such as bed rotting, sleepmaxxing, and sleepy girl mocktails. In other words, in a lifestyle that’s fast-paced, digitally connected, and has modern stressors, the ability to get eight hours of quality sleep is seen as a status symbol, a luxury, and a privilege. However, the real question is: Are we going too far with perfecting our ‘beauty sleep’ so much so that it’s blinding us from the marketing gimmicks of the rising sleep economy? Is the commodification of our basic human need damaging our relationship with sleep?

CATCHING THE ZZZ'S