We've become increasingly aware of how important sleep is to our health – and the newest wellness "hack" is ways to get the most out of our restorative and restful time in bed. However, this may actually be making things worse. Sleep researchers have some advice for those trying to "optimize" their shuteye – and it doesn't involve any effort at all.
Scientists at Macquarie University in Australia have highlighted how our growing preoccupation with sleep hygiene might not be in our best interests, and in turn may be leading to more issues at night.
"Sleep tends to shy away from effort," says clinical psychologist and sleep researcher Dr. Amelia Scott. "Sleep is something that we have to let happen rather than make happen."
Now, this is easier said than done for many people, including myself. In the early hours of this morning I found myself with a heat mask on, doing a 20-minute body relaxation meditation session and instead of drifting off, I ended up wide awake wondering how you can tell if dragonfruit has white or red flesh on the inside by looking at its skin, and trying to remember the name of a band I saw at a festival in 2010. Sure, I didn't immediately pick up my phone to look both things up – I know where these rabbit holes lead – but I did feel frustrated that something that should work felt like a waste of time.
Essentially, I put too much pressure on myself to sleep – which is what Scott says the key issue is with this health trend and the industry that's been built around it.
"Sleepmaxxing" has been a term doing its rounds for about a year now, and it was flagged by Harvard University researchers in 2025 as something to be wary of. As the name suggests, it's a broad term that suggests ways to maximize your ability to fall asleep and get the rest you need each night. But in doing so, it could just be leading to more issues like insomnia due to our focus on how important it is that we get enough sleep.
"We’re in an age of the measured self," Scott says. "We measure everything."
This includes gathering nightly sleep data through apps and devices that track our rest. But whereas something like tracking steps or running pace can help us improve, measuring sleep could be setting us up for failure. And the data might not even be as reliable as we think it is. In this study, researchers manipulated the digital feedback that participants saw when they woke up – and it had a significant impact.
"The only thing that was manipulated was the feedback, not their actual sleep," says Scott.
"People wake up in the morning, and they check their sleep score," she adds. "And then that becomes the forecast or the prognosis of the day ahead."
In April, this report examined how sleepmaxxing hadn't just become a lucrative industry for technology companies but a personal reflection of our day-to-day success. So whether you're using an Oura ring, a mattress made for your "sleep style," blackout blinds or any other tool or device promoted to help you maximize time in bed, Scott says it could just be adding more pressure to your routine.
So, if this is something you can relate to, what can you do about it? Take the pressure off. And know that rituals and devices are no match for your body's ability to self-regulate when you're not trying to control it.
"The machine doesn’t necessarily know better than your own embodied intuition," Scott says.
Our nightly routines are intensely personal and also, as science has found evidence of, tied to our internal clocks – so it makes sense that there's no one right way to go about it, and that seeing a week of poor data could lead us to feeling like we're failing. After I tried my own kind of sleepmaxxing in the early hours today, I went back to my regular go-to – true crime podcasts – and drifted off soon after.
"The maxxing movement is just another angle for industries to own the space to be perfectly calm, happy, skinny and attractive – the ideal self, which to my mind is a myth," Scott says.
"This is a massive industry that preys on our vulnerabilities to try and be ideal, happy, calm, productive and attentive all the time," she adds. "The industry is essentially telling people, 'You can control your sleep, you can control your health, and we’ve got the machinery to help you do this.'"
Scott also highlights that supplements like magnesium and tart cherry juice – two big ones on social media in the past year – are no silver bullet for sleep, according to the research we have so far.
"On average, in these clinical trials, you see either no difference between magnesium and placebo," she adds.
Of course, if you've found a sleepmaxxing hack that works for you, that's a win. However, if you haven't, researchers want you to know that sleep is not something you can control or "optimize" in the way it's being sold right now. In fact it's when you let go of control that you may find you actually sleep better.
Ultimately, while researchers say around seven hours is a ballpark number of sleep hours you should aim for, this varies from person to person for many reasons. She suggests taking the focus off a goal number and instead trying to be consistent is key.
"The idea that we all need eight hours is a complete myth," Scott adds.
She says that, ultimately, what matters most are two things: Regularity – working toward maintaining a sleep and wake time – and efficiency, so you're not spending more time in bed, awake, than you need to.
"Once you’ve hit those last two things, just let your body do it because it’s really self-regulating," she says. "The body knows what it’s doing."
Source: Macquarie University