What defines the ultimate luxury? For centuries, the answer has been simple: a well-padded trust fund, several properties across different continents, summers in the Amalfi Coast, winters in Gstaad, maybe even a library or two in your family name.
As of late, when we see the rise of the world’s one percent, billionaires and trillionaires popping up at every corner, the new money buying monogrammed designer in bulk, we cannot help but wonder… Is this really what luxury means?
For the everyman, luxury is defined by trendsetters. In the 1980s, it was logo mania. In the 1990s, the tide shifted towards minimalism in fashion while our houses became more ostentatious with massive swimming pools and large screen televisions.
If you thought the ‘80s were loud, the 2000s took its luxury signalling to the ceiling. Chunky, loud, and excessively monogrammed—this was what opulence was in the 2000s.
It is only recently, in the tail end of the 2010s and the post-pandemic era, that luxury has started to look beyond the material. Luxury, if argued through the Instagram and TikTok algorithms, is now defined by the immaterial, by the intangible.
Confused? Let us explain. The new graduating class of luxury is more concerned with wellness retreats, anti-aging rituals, and sleepmaxxing.
The first two you have likely heard of, maybe even partaken in but sleepmaxxing?! This trend is all about chasing the sleep we had so easily forsaken as children.
Sleepmaxxing is an umbrella term to describe any “hack” that helps people log more sleep hours. The average person requires at least eight hours per night but truthfully, most people are lucky if they sleep eight hours once a week.
Tracking sleep is not new. iOS introduced sleep logging back in 2020, with dedicated “sleep” modes to encourage people to put their phone away for a minimum of eight hours.
Beyond feeling weirdly guilty for not hitting a sleep target, or feeling pride at completing successful sleep cycles, these tracking apps do nothing to actually help people sleep better.
Most commonly found through typing sleepmaxxing into the search bar on either TikTok or Instagram, we decided to investigate the most popular trends to log more sleep hours.
To be fair, this one has been around longer than the sleepmaxxers. Ambient noise, the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the shore, a three hour podcast on Spotify titled “Air Conditioning Running on Low as it Rains Outside” have all garnered significant airplay on people’s devices as they try to shut out the rest of the world for some much needed shut-eye.
In recent times, however, people have looked beyond just basic white noise and branched into others. Pink noise is the closest to white noise with reduced higher frequencies.
The pink noise soundscape is wider and gentler, reminiscent of urban traffic flow. Completing the trifecta is brown noise.
These frequencies offer a rumbling, bass-like tone, completely different to the energy of white or pink noise, most similar to the hum of an aeroplane.
Of course, sound doesn’t complete an ambience. These soundscapes are complemented by other interior design hacks.
Blackout curtains are useful for keeping pesky lights, whether that is the sunrise or ultra-bright street lights, that might disrupt your rest.
If you’re someone who tosses and turns, maybe a weighted blanket is the answer. These blankets are especially heavy and use deep pressure stimulation to mimic the sensation of a comforting hug.
The result is lowered cortisol for a better night of sleep. Finally, there is the “cold room, warm bed” hypothesis.
Leave the air conditioning running to a glacial temperature and cosy up underneath a warm duvet for the perfect night’s sleep. The chill from the AC is meant to signal to your brain to lower your core temperature, nudging you into a hibernation state.
The women of the 1950s set aside an hour or more in the nighttime to slather on cold cream or pin hair up so the morning would bring with it a fresh face and a gorgeous head of salon-ready curls.
Today’s bedtime beauty routines are shorter and focused on feeling good as well as looking good. It’s no surprise then that, in a world where efficiency is paramount, beauty routines incorporate sleepmaxxing too.
Take, for instance, mouth tape. Placing adhesives over your mouth to tape your jaw shut to prevent wrinkles by keeping the mouth taut and, some claim, to reduce snoring, sounds like an old wives’ tale.
But it’s one many people believe in. If you have trouble with sleep or find yourself waking everyone else with your snoring, sleepmaxxers also recommend nasal dilators—an over-the-counter adhesive strip or small stent used to physically widen the nasal passage.
For some sleepmaxxers, it’s the actual act of falling asleep which ails them. They have plenty of desire to sleep but when it comes to the bed, their brain fails them.
This is where the sleep community online turns towards supplements, teas, and tonics. A creator on TikTok invented a homemade beverage meant to act as a sleep aid known as the “Sleepy Girl Mocktail.”
The drink contains cherry juice, magnesium powder, and prebiotic soda. The last ingredient is simply to improve the taste of the drink.
Outside of the mocktail, the tried-and-tested Sleepytime Tea from Celestial Seasonings (or any tea brand) is a comforting flavour profile.
Whether it works or is simply a victim of the placebo effect, we’ll leave up to you. If you prefer the routine and evidence-based science behind pills, sleepmaxxers recommend magnesium bisglycinate capsules or powder to enhance sleep.
Ashwagandha, an ayurvedic extract, in capsule or gummy form is said to lower cortisol and leads to a fulfilling night’s sleep.
Sleep-deprived, many of us are cranky, irritable, and prone to making mistakes. In a world that is constantly changing and moving its goalposts, our sleep may be one of the few things we try to exert control over.
If you find yourself in dire straits and in desire for a good night’s sleep, some of these “hacks” might work for you but as always, exercise caution (and temper your disappointment if they don’t work).