Has the era of everything 'maxxing' reached our sleep, too? With cutting-edge devices like Oura rings and smart watches, the temptation to track our slumber grows – and can turn into an unhealthy obsession that ultimately sabotages our sleep. Below, we speak with an expert to uncover why 'sleepmaxxing' may do more harm than good
I’ve never been a good sleeper. Since toddlerdom, I’ve struggled to switch off my brain long enough for the sandman to pay me a visit. My husband, on the other hand, is a world-class snoozer. He can collapse anytime, anyplace. Because of this superpower, I was surprised when, a few years ago, he started using his newly acquired Apple Watch to track his sleep. Surely, he instinctively knows that he’s been unconscious since his head his pillow? Apparently, this is not the case.
Some nights, when he thought he slept soundly, his watch will rudely point out his lack of REM. On other, more restless nights, he’ll be shocked to wake up to a PB sleep score. Fortunately, he doesn’t get too bogged down in the data, whereas I avoid sleep-trackers like the plague – I know the numbers would drive me mad.
It got me thinking: is tracking our sleep really helping us catch those z’s or is the stress of meeting our rest-related KPIs keeping us up at night? According to Laura Kanadel, Certified Sleep Counsellor and founder of The Sleep Institute, the latter may be true.