Snoozin’ ain’t losin’

Sleep has become our new cultural obsession.

It is apparently as essential to our bodies as eating, drinking and breathing, although far more commonly neglected than all three. Until now, that is.

Zoomers (inevitably) and Millennials (sadly) are driving a new trend of sleepcations. These snoozy sojourns involve travelling to a new place, paying for a hotel, and…doing absolutely nothing but getting some shut eye. In response, hotels are offering packages including CBD gummies and weighted blankets.

In the US, a former analyst at Centerview Partners sued the company after claiming she had been wrongfully fired for asking to be able to sleep more than eight hours a night. After initially trying to mount a defence that the analyst role was incompatible with a full night’s sleep, Centerview eventually settled.

It gets worse. More than two thirds of Gen Zers would choose a restful night’s sleep over…other things you might do in a bed, despite a recent study showing that one has a positive effect on the other. The other third are eschewing sleepovers, sending partners off into the night to protect their precious slumber.

This could be a simple case of younger generations reclaiming their time and prioritising their health. It would hardly be the first example of such a trend.

It could be the manifestation of a new era of feminism, which prioritises checking out and either avoiding or recovering from burnout over girl boss hustle.

Or, somewhat counterintuitively, it may be that all this talk of sleep is making us need more. A wave of new research suggests the way we think about sleep matters more than the hours we get. 

Which means that if this section made you sleepy, it’s because of the topic, and definitely not the quality.