What is sleepmaxxing and how much of it do you actually need?

You’ve put your phone away, made the bedroom comfortable and given yourself an early night. Then, before you’ve even had breakfast, a sleep app tells you that you could have done better.

For anyone trying to look after themselves, it’s an oddly dispiriting start to the day.

“Sleepmaxxing” is the social-media shorthand for trying to optimise sleep through routines, products and tracking. It can include familiar habits such as wearing an eye mask, as well as supplements, elaborate evening rituals and close attention to wearable data. The trend has continued to attract coverage this October. koreatimes.co.kr

There’s something encouraging about people taking rest seriously. But a routine can become crowded surprisingly quickly. Each new suggestion adds another thing to buy, remember or worry about getting right.

Before adding anything else, it’s worth asking a more ordinary question: what is actually making your nights difficult?

Start with the thing that bothers you

A streetlight shining through the curtains is a different problem from lying awake thinking about work. A complicated routine won’t necessarily address either.

If light is bothering you, start with the curtains and the small sources of brightness around the room. If your mind is busy, give yourself somewhere to put tomorrow’s jobs before getting into bed. The NHS suggests writing down worries or making a to-do list as ways to help settle your thoughts in the evening. NHS

This gives any change a clear purpose. You can tell whether closing the curtain gap has made the room more comfortable. It’s harder to judge a collection of new habits introduced all at once.

An eye mask is one option when you can’t control the light around you; the NHS includes it among its suggestions for creating a darker sleeping environment. NHS When choosing one, consider how it sits around your nose, whether the strap feels comfortable and how it rests against the pillow in your usual sleeping position. Those are useful things to assess before getting distracted by promises about a perfect night.

When the sleep score becomes the problem

Researchers were discussing this tension long before the word sleepmaxxing became popular.

In a 2017 paper, clinicians described three patients whose focus on sleep-tracker data complicated their efforts to improve sleep. They used the term orthosomnia to describe a pursuit of ideal sleep influenced by those measurements. The cases highlighted how tracking could reinforce anxiety or perfectionism for some people. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

That was a small clinical case series, not proof that trackers harm everyone who uses them. It also cannot tell us how common the problem is.

The useful question is what happens after you look at the numbers. Do they help you notice a pattern, or do you spend the morning worrying about a night that had seemed perfectly reasonable until you opened the app?

If checking becomes unsettling, consider stepping back from daily scores. You can still pay attention to your routine and how you feel during the day without giving each night a mark. Persistent tiredness or difficulty sleeping deserves attention, regardless of whether an app gives you a reassuring result.

Build an evening you can live with

A realistic routine needs to fit around dinner, work, family and the occasional late night. It shouldn’t require a clear calendar.

The NHS recommends keeping a regular waking time, going to bed when sleepy and leaving time to relax beforehand. These are useful foundations to work on before adding more steps. NHS

Your wind-down might be a book, quiet music or simply finishing tomorrow’s preparations early enough to stop rushing. Choose something you enjoy. If the routine itself feels like a list of obligations, simplify it.

There will still be evenings when plans change. You don’t need to replace your entire approach because one night went badly. The NHS also advises against trying to force sleep: if you remain awake, get up for a quiet activity and return to bed when you feel sleepy. NHS

The same practical thinking applies to products. A sunrise alarm clock offers gradually increasing light around your waking time. OruSleep’s model includes sunrise simulation and alarm-sound options, which you can explore on the Sunrise Alarm Clock product page. OruSleep Choose it because that waking setup appeals to you, rather than because a complete bedtime routine supposedly requires one.

You can also browse OruSleep’s sleep essentials with a particular need in mind. There’s no requirement to build a collection.

For tonight, choose one thing that would make bedtime easier. It might be dealing with unwanted light, putting tomorrow’s tasks on paper or leaving yourself enough time to get ready without rushing. Give that change some space before deciding you need another.

If sleeping difficulties have lasted for months, changes to your habits haven’t helped, or poor sleep is making daily life hard to manage, speak to your GP. NHS