Sleep your way to better health

Not in a sexy way, sorry

A still from ‘David’ by Sam Taylor-Johnson

The wellness world is obsessed with sleep. It was ever thus. But it feels particularly so right now, with the clocks going forward at the end of the month in the UK, and it being World Sleep Day on Friday.

Like every journalist who writes about wellbeing at this time of year, my inbox is flooded with press releases from brands promising the perfect night’s sleep. There are apps and gadgets galore, from temperature-controlled mattresses and wraparound headphones, to blue light-blocking glasses and sunrise alarm clocks. And the global market for sleep trackers is predicted to hit an astonishing £60bn by 2032.

How did something that we all do every night become such a obsession?

I’m not here to knock the tech. I have a sunrise alarm clock and I wear an Oura ring (the gamification of getting good sleep works for me; I know that it doesn’t for others). But what I don’t love is this idea of sleep being sold as some kind of a luxury.

Sleep tourism has…