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Of all the health and wellness content online, sleep is one topic we can’t get enough of: when to do it, how much is optimal, what surface best makes for somnolent bliss, whether it’s better done alone. Our obsession with getting enough shut-eye stems, I suspect, from the fact that so many of us feel tired all the time.
Akin to their cursed revival of low-rise jeans, the TikTok generation have repackaged a perennial preoccupation and given it their own spin: sleepmaxxing. Co-opting its name from another online phenomenon (looksmaxxing), the term refers to any number of hacks that purport to improve sleep.
What is sleepmaxxing?
On social media, sleepmaxxing encompasses a wide variety of sleep tips and tricks, including but not limited to: taping your mouth shut to forcibly breathe through your nose, using nasal dilators to widen the nostrils, and taking supplements such as magnesium and melatonin.
Using red lights rather than regular lights in the bedroom supposedly boosts melatonin production, a claim conveniently made by a company that sells sleep lights.
As wearable smartwatches and fitness trackers have grown in popularity, so has an interest in monitoring one’s own sleep. Smart trackers now provide sleep scores, with breakdowns of sleep phases, measures of sleep efficiency and even suggested bedtimes.
Much of the content around sleepmaxxing online is couched in the language of self-optimisation, as well as a looksmaxxing-adjacent pursuit of aesthetics: sleeping on your back prevents your face becoming asymmetric, influencers claim, while a mouth taping brand suggests its product will give its users “a perfectly aligned jaw”.
What does the evidence say?
Though consumer sleep trackers are improving in accuracy, “there is quite a bit of variability between devices”, according to Melinda Jackson, an associate professor at Monash University.
“Most consumer-grade sleep tracking devices are better at estimating total sleep time than accurately distinguishing between light and deep sleep,” Prof Fatima Yaqoot, an epidemiologist and sleep scientist at the University of the Sunshine Coast, says. “Relying too much on a ‘perfect sleep score’ or fixating on achieving an ideal number may lead to sleep-related anxiety and worsen the overall sleep experience.”
Sleep researchers have coined a term for this anxiety – “orthosomnia”, which is often driven by sleep-tracking devices.
“The best measure of sleep quality is how you feel upon waking,” Yaqoot says. “If you wake up feeling rested and refreshed, that means you slept well” – regardless of what a device reports.
So will a shut mouth make for better shut-eye? Probably not.
“Some of the concerns raised on social media with mouth breathing have been around poor oral health, increasing risk of infection, and poor sleep,” Jackson, a registered psychologist specialising in the treatment of sleep disorders, says.
“Nasal breathing can be beneficial in terms of filtering and humidifying the air, as well as improving lung function through promotion of diaphragmatic breathing.”
She notes that there have been very few studies looking at the effect of mouth taping during sleep. And, Yaqoot points out, it can worsen airway obstruction in people with sleep apnoea.
As for nasal dilators, “I don’t see any harm in doing that if you are a nose breather”, Jackson says. “If it’s not going to be harmful and you’d like to give it a go, and it works for you, great, but there’s possibly a bit of placebo effect in these strategies.”
The best position for sleeping depends on who you are: if you’re heavily pregnant, say, side sleeping is safest. Side or stomach sleeping can also reduce snoring, while sleeping on one’s back may reduce lower back pain and the likelihood of skin changes.
What about melatonin? Should I take a supplement?
Increasing drowsiness at the end of the day is driven by natural increases in melatonin, produced by the brain’s pineal gland. “When we wake up in the morning [and] light hits our eyes, that production stops. It’s low during the day and then starts to peak in the evening to help us with sleep onset,” Jackson says.
Shorter wavelengths of light – such as blue lights from digital screens – are more likely to stop or slow the production of melatonin. “I wouldn’t say that red light enhances production of melatonin but it just doesn’t impact it as much as other wavelengths,” Jackson says. “When we talk about light, there’s not just the wavelength, but also the lux – the illuminance of that light. Any light, if it’s bright enough, will impact our sleep to some degree.”
Melatonin supplements can help to reset the internal body clock for people with jet lag or after shift work but are “not particularly helpful” for improving sleep in those who don’t have a diagnosed sleep disorder, Yaqoot says. “While melatonin use is considered safe for the short term, since in addition to sleep it also affects reproductive hormones and other biological functions, there are risks to affecting these functions, and long-term use needs more evidence.”
Magnesium supplements are primarily useful in people with diagnosed deficiencies but “there’s currently limited evidence for the effectiveness of magnesium on insomnia symptoms”, Jackson says.
What do experts recommend for a good night’s sleep?
“Night-time sleep is directly influenced by what we do during the day,” Yaqoot says. Experts suggest:
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Beginning the day with exposure to sunlight, to align the body’s internal clock
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Keeping consistent bed- and wake times, even on weekends
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Limiting afternoon naps to no more than 30 minutes
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Reducing caffeine intake later in the afternoon
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Avoiding heavy meals right before bed
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Reducing screen exposure before bedtime
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Developing a calming pre-bedtime routine, such as reading, meditation, or deep breathing.
Good sleep hygiene also means avoiding bed rotting where possible, Yaqoot says. “While rest is essential … spending long hours in bed while awake weakens the brain’s association between bed and sleep, making it harder to fall and stay asleep.”
On average, it takes 20 to 30 minutes to fall asleep, Jackson says. “If you’re falling asleep within four to five minutes it can be a sign that you are experiencing some sleep deprivation.”
Behavioural changes alone, though, are insufficient to address underlying sleep disorders such as insomnia or sleep apnoea, which require support from a health practitioner.
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Donna Lu is Guardian Australia’s science writer
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Antiviral is a fortnightly column that interrogates the evidence behind the health headlines and factchecks popular wellness claims
