Do you have a flawless ‘sleep-maxxing’ routine?

How effectively can you condense all of your leisure time into a perfectly curated, ritualistic unwind routine? The earnest preparation for your morning shed, after all- that’s what sleep is all about, right? But why is it like this? Why is a concept so simple and mundane, such as sleep, becoming the focal point of a metric-based society?

In the age of Artificial Intelligence, and devices such as the Whoop, obsessive sleep tracking is becoming easily accessible to the general public. Research has found that between 3%-14% of US adults present symptoms of Orthosomnia. (“Optimization Anxiety: How Health Tracking Is Affecting Americans”)  Orthosomnia is defined by The Sleep Foundation as: ‘An obsessive pursuit of optimal sleep that is driven by sleep tracker data.’ (“What is Orthosomnia?”)  This term, coined in 2017 by researchers at Rush University Medical College and Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine presents itself in symptoms such as performance anxiety, insomnia, and difficulty concentrating. Although a harmless habit at the surface, the bedtime hypervigilance surrounding this condition eventually results in the body’s ‘fight or flight’ system being activated during sleep, which later causes worsened sleep quality. As well, a low sleep score due to inaccuracies in a tracking software may trigger a phenomenon referred to as Nocebo Effect, which triggers perceived daytime fatigue, despite adequate physical rest.

However, Orthosomnia doesn't just pose health risks. In the pursuit of ‘perfect sleep’ users upload and overshare personal biometric data. Unlike medical professionals, tracking apps are not under any legal obligation to prioritize your privacy, which in turn leads to the selling and trading of personal behavioral data. This could affect one's ability to get accepted by health insurances.

But why the sudden obsession in sleep? Capitalism has profoundly shaped our understanding and perception of sleep. During the industrial revolution, sleep was viewed as a deterrent to production and consumption. However, during this era of our lives, often referred to as ‘late stage capitalism’ has shifted our views on sleep. Workers are told to maximize sleep, through aesthetically pleasing videos of influencers sharing their sleep routines, strictly as a performance-enhancement mechanism, to guarantee productivity and economic output the next day. Additionally, underneath a capitalist framework, personal life is often structured to replicate the workplace. The restorative biological function that sleep is transformed into a rigid task-based routine. People tracking their sleep biometrics, such as their heart-rate variability transforms sleep into an achievement, or goal.

This paradoxical relationship with sleep generates stress which prevents sleep from occurring naturally. Becoming exhausted and fatigued from this mental arousal causes consumers to become more desperate into seeking a solution, and thus, becoming incentivised to buy a new product. Philosopher Jonathan Crary famously said that sleep was the final natural barrier that capitalism could not monetize. However, the global sleep economy is valued between $500 billion and $585 billion, and projected to reach $1 trillion by the early 2030s. (“Sleep Economy or Sleep Aids Market Size Worth USD 950.22 Billion in 2032 | Emergen Research”) This is enhanced by adverts, portraying sleeping ‘coaches’ promoting melatonin gummies, face masks, and sunrise alarm clocks, in order to fully capitalize on every aspect of our daily lives. This ultimately leads to the commodification of sleep, as people within the lower class are unable to invest into these sleep ‘optimising’ products, causing a barrier in what was once a simple universal function.

Moreover, this recent trend of streamlining and refining sleep traps the working class into a cycle of stress and chronic sleep deprivation, and affects all aspects of one’s life. So, when putting your head on the pillow tonight, take your smart watch off. You’ll possibly give yourself a better night of sleep.