Is Sleep Becoming Fashionable?

Now that physical activity has become a fashion statement, will sleep be next? Dubious claims about powerful achievers who can thrive without sleeping much are giving way to sleep as a status symbol. And of course, that opens the door to commerce.

A $400 Billion Economic Burden – And an Opportunity

The RAND Corporation estimates that poor sleep is costing the U.S. economy more than $400 billion dollars. Productivity takes a severe hit, as well as health.

So, naturally the wellness industry is stepping up with all kinds of offerings. Sleepio is offering to shape up the inadequate sleeping patterns of your employees. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are pouring money into sleepy innovation – which they claim is a $32 billion market. Trend spotter Marian Salzman tells the New York Times:

I can see sleep being another weapon in competitive parenting and career building. If you want your child to succeed, do you have to buy them these sleep devices? Sleep is personal. It’s class, not mass, and now the sleep industry is based on technical services, customized for me. It’s a bizarre marriage of high tech and low tech. Chamomile tea is going to have a resurgence, as the antithesis to the whole pharma thing.

The health benefits of sleeping well are undeniable. Good metabolic health, a healthy weight, heart health, clear thinking, and a long life are all linked to it.

But we wonder. Is all this “innovation” advancing the cause of better rest? Or is it promoting another vague neurosis? Has the Big, Bright Green Pleasure Machine evolved for the 21st century?

“You better hurry up and order one.”

Click here here for more from the New York Times.

Portrait Of Juliette Courbet As A Sleeping Child, graphite drawing by Gustave Courbet / flickr

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April 17, 2017