What is sleepmaxxing? Experts debunk yet another social media trend

FROM mouth taping to rope-assisted neck swinging, a viral social media trend is promoting extreme bedtime routines that claim to deliver perfect sleep.

- WITH HAFFIZA SAYED HASSAN [e-mail]

Influencers on TikTok and X are fueling a growing wellness obsession popularly known as “sleepmaxxing’, a catchall term for activities and products aimed at optimising sleep quality.

The explosive rise of the trend underscores social media's power to legitimise unproven health practices.

One so-called insomnia cure involves people hanging by their necks with ropes or belts and swinging their bodies in the air.

Experts have raised alarm about the trick, following a Chinese state broadcaster’s report that attributed at least one fatality in China last year to a similar “neck hanging” routine.

Such sleepmaxxing techniques are “ridiculous, potentially harmful, and evidence-free,’ Timothy Caulfield, a misinformation expert from the University of Alberta in Canada, said.

“It is a good example of how social media can normalise the absurd”