New wellness trends pop up all the time, some of them of note and others less worthy of attention. However, those of you keen to prioritise good-quality rest might be interested to find out more about sleepmaxxing, one of the newest trends to have emerged on social media platform TikTok over the last few months.
What is sleepmaxxing?
The aim of sleepmaxxing is to maximise both the amount and quality of the sleep you get each night – and, as we all know, adults need to get between seven and nine hours of sleep in order to support good mental and emotional health and wellbeing.
Prioritising sleep means that you’ll make choices that help facilitate this, whether that’s avoiding alcohol and caffeine, not staying up late, not eating late at night, maintaining a restful bedroom environment, reducing screen time or something else.
In so doing, you’ll reap all sorts of benefits, everything from boosting your energy levels and improving your mood to reducing the number of sick days you take from work, reducing your risk of health conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, improving your memory, attention and concentration, and so on.
How do you sleepmaxx?
Get to grips with sleepmaxxing by focusing on your bedtime routine, your sleep environment and your stress management techniques… but don’t cause yourself excessive worry and don’t obsess over getting the perfect night’s sleep, or the anxiety you create could have the opposite effect.
First of all, take a look at your bedroom. Is there a lot of clutter? Does lots of light come in from outside? Is it too hot or too cold? Optimising your room to promote good rest will make a significant difference to how well you sleep.
From there, consistency should be your next area of focus. Establish a solid routine where you go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day. This will regulate your internal clock and reinforce your natural sleep/wake cycle. A regular bedtime routine will also signal to your body that it’s time to rest, so aim to do the same activities each night to wind down.
What tools are there to help with sleepmaxxing?
There are lots of resources you can try to help you with your sleepmaxxing ambitions, everything from mouth tape and magnesium supplements to sleep trackers.
However, being healthy in your general life is the best strategy you can employ, so make sure that you follow a well-balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and that you get regular exercise each week.
It can also be incredibly beneficial to get out into nature regularly, with natural light exposure regulating your sleep/wake cycle and the sounds of the external world serving as a mindfulness and meditation tool.
Just remember that what works for one person may not work as well for you… so just take your time, try a few ideas out and see what impact it has on your sleep. Who knows how you might feel in a month or two!
