Chasing the "perfect sleep"? It might actually be harming you

Smart bracelets, monitoring rings, magnesium supplements, and white noise machines — the worldwide attempt to chase the perfect sleep, a trend known as "Sleepmaxxing", has turned the sleep time of millions into a real battle. However, experts are now warning that this obsession might achieve the exact opposite result and lead to a phenomenon that doctors call "orthosomnia": addiction and anxiety from the attempt to achieve perfect sleep.

In a conversation with the BBC, doctors and sleep experts said they are identifying a growing interest from patients who arrive at clinics equipped with charts and data from their smartwatches, convinced — often mistakenly — that they suffer from a severe sleep disorder. This pursuit, the doctors warn, is exactly what harms the quality of their sleep.

"There is no such thing as a 'sleep score' in science"

Since the first fitness bracelets hit the market somewhere in 2009, sleep metrics have become an inseparable part of many people's lives. The various gadgets offer a breakdown of sleep stages — light sleep, deep sleep, and the REM stage — and finally issue the user a weighted "sleep score".

However, Dr. Elena Her, a sleep medicine consultant at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, clarifies in a conversation with the BBC that this is a marketing gimmick and nothing more. "There is nothing known in sleep science called a 'sleep score'," she explained, "it is something created entirely by the device manufacturers."

Dr. Her notes that she sees more and more patients in her clinic who suffer from direct anxiety as a result of these data: "They come to me with a lot of questions and concerns about the data from the watch, and that in itself contributes to their sleep difficulties. Sleep simply does not respond well to attempts to perfect it or bring it to perfection."

The inaccuracy of these devices is now also being put to a legal test. In a lawsuit recently filed in San Francisco against the company Oura (manufacturer of smart rings), it is claimed that the device is not capable of accurately measuring sleep stages and relies on artificial intelligence estimates whose chances of hitting the facts are "similar to a coin toss". The company responded to the BBC that it stands behind the research and reliability of its products.

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Thought creates reality: "I relied on the watch like it was the Bible"

The influence of these devices is not only psychological, but directly affects daily functioning. In a study recently conducted at the University of Oxford, participants were given sleep metrics that displayed completely random scores — without any connection to their actual sleep quality. The findings were unequivocal: subjects who were told they slept poorly reported severe fatigue and a decrease in alertness, even though the score was completely made up.

Jess Hill (32) from London experienced this firsthand for three years when she was addicted to the metrics on her Garmin watch. "I started relying on the watch like it was my Bible to know if I slept well or not," she told the BBC, "I would tell myself 'I slept terribly so I will really suffer today', even if in practice I felt fine. Everything changed when I woke up one night for four continuous hours, and in the morning the watch announced to me: 'Wow, excellent sleep!'".

Dr. Neil Stanley, a sleep expert and author of the book How to Sleep Well, explained that gamification of sleep creates new disturbances. "When they give you a number, they give you a goal. And then you enter a cycle of worry about quality and quantity. These devices measure mainly movement. If you want to measure sleep for real — you must measure brain activity. As long as you are not measuring the brain, you are not really measuring sleep."

So how do you really sleep well? The experts' tips

If the gadgets and expensive supplements are not the solution, what will bring your night back? Dr. Her suggests returning to the basics and keeping it simple:

1. Balanced sleep environment: make sure the room is cool, dark, and quiet — but without extremes. "It doesn't have to be total darkness, exactly 16 degrees, or sterile silence. It is enough that it is quite cool, quite dark, and quite quiet."

2. Morning light: absorb strong sunlight in the morning hours, a critical component for regulating the body's biological clock (circadian rhythm).

3. Healthy lifestyle: maintain light physical activity and a balanced Mediterranean diet rich in plant-based components.

And what is the most important rule? "Keep it simple," concluded Dr. Her, "anything beyond that — you simply don't need it."