'Sleepmaxxing' obsession may be ruining your sleep, experts warn

Sleep scores, magnesium supplements and white-noise machines are among the tools gaining popularity as people chase better sleep. But experts are warning that the more obsessively people pursue perfect sleep, the worse their sleep quality may actually become.

The BBC reported Saturday (local time) that the growing trend of "sleepmaxxing" — pushing sleep optimization to the extreme — can tip into "orthosomnia," a fixation on achieving perfect sleep.

Sleepmaxxing is a wellness trend in which people adopt extreme routines and use sleep-tracking devices and various techniques to optimize and monitor their sleep. Orthosomnia is an emerging sleep disorder in which people use phones or electronic devices to help them fall asleep, only to develop insomnia as a result.

Wearable device makers, including Apple, along with smart ring companies such as Oura, Ultrahuman and Ringconn, have been rolling out sleep-analysis features in quick succession. While specifics vary by product, most break down a user's sleep into periods of wakefulness, light sleep, deep sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Many also combine these metrics into an overall "sleep score."

Experts say the very act of quantifying sleep and trying to manage it perfectly can fuel anxiety and end up disrupting sleep rather than improving it.

Alanna Hare, a sleep medicine specialist at Royal Brompton Hospital in London, said people should not read too much into sleep scores. "The concept of a 'sleep score' is not officially recognized in sleep science," she said. "It is a metric invented by manufacturers."

In clinical settings, sleep trackers are already stoking patient anxiety. Hare said more patients are arriving at clinics armed with data from multiple sleep trackers and peppering doctors with questions about their sleep. "That behavior itself may be contributing to making sleep problems worse," she said.

Some patients reportedly cannot shake their anxiety about sleep even after receiving a clean bill of health from medical tests. The BBC noted that while orthosomnia has not been formally classified as a condition in the United Kingdom, clinicians are seeing cases of people who place excessive trust in sleep tracker data and come to believe they have a sleep disorder when nothing is actually wrong.

Neil Stanley, a sleep expert and author of "How to Sleep Well," said the practice of scoring sleep can itself breed problems. "When you track sleep, you get numbers, and when you have numbers, you naturally set targets," he said. "You can fall into a vicious cycle of worrying about the quality and quantity of your sleep based on those figures."

Experts advise that creating a basic sleep environment matters more than relying on gadgets or supplements. Getting adequate sunlight, doing light exercise and eating plant-based foods to maintain a regular biological rhythm are all said to support better sleep.

Hare recommended keeping the bedroom "reasonably cool, dark and quiet," while stressing that perfection is not the goal. "It doesn't need to be pitch black, it doesn't need to be exactly 16 degrees Celsius, it doesn't need to be perfectly silent," she said. "Reasonably cool, dark and quiet is enough."

She went on to say "you don't need anything more complicated than that," adding that "simple lifestyle habits are the key to a good night's sleep."