Americans Are Weirdly ‘Slumberstitious’ About Bedtime Rituals Now
· Vice
Bedtime doesn’t come as easy now, and the CDC calls that out: one in three Americans are getting inadequate sleep, and almost one-half don’t wake up feeling well rested. What used to be a casual and innate function has turned into a full blown routine.
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People are treating bedtime like a full production now. There’s the magnesium supplements, the lavender pillow spray, the brown noise playlist, the exact thermostat setting, weighted blankets, sleep gummies, and the silk sleep mask (in that order, too)… and what if one part of the routine gets interrupted? Then some people will be fully convinced they’re doomed to get terrible sleep. The internet has basically developed sleep superstitions. Or “slumberstitions,” if we’re unfortunately calling it that now.
Part of this comes from the fact that people are really struggling with sleep more than ever. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has previously reported that 30% of adults experience insomnia symptoms multiple nights per week, while sleep anxiety itself has become its own problem—almost three-fourths of Americans experience disrupted sleep due to stress. Beyond just struggling to sleep, people actively stress about whether they’re going to sleep badly before bedtime even starts.
And modern life doesn’t exactly help. We are all so overstimulated. We’re glued to our phones, even when we’re going to bed. Work emails bleed into the evening. Doomscrolling became a nightly ritual. Then social media adds another layer by convincing people that perfect sleep is achievable if they just buy enough products and optimize hard enough.
So now bedtime has become weirdly ceremonial. People are taping their mouths shut to force nasal breathing. Wearing sleep trackers that score their recovery like professional athletes. Drinking “sleepy girl mocktails.” Listening to noisey sound like airplane cabins or distant thunderstorms in a loop. Entire TikTok accounts are now dedicated to elaborate nighttime routines built around the pursuit of sleeping perfectly. The irony is that some of these rituals probably do help, at least partially. Consistency matters for sleep. Lower lighting at night can help. Cooler temperatures genuinely support sleep quality. Weighted blankets can feel calming for some people. Gummies containing sleep inducing supplements have also exploded in popularity among people trying to quiet racing thoughts at night.
But there’s also a point where trying too hard to sleep starts becoming its own issue. Sleep researchers even have a term for this now: orthosomnia, which basically describes an unhealthy obsession with achieving “perfect” sleep. It often shows up in people who become hyper-fixated on sleep trackers, sleep scores, or rigid nighttime routines. Instead of relaxing before bed, people become anxious about optimizing every single part of sleep itself. And once sleep becomes stressful, things can spiral pretty quickly. Miss the magnesium drink? Panic. Forgot the white noise machine? Panic. Partner touched the thermostat? Relationship-ending event.
That’s partially why simpler nighttime routines are probably more sustainable than turning bedtime into a seven-step performance art piece. A few consistent habits matter more than building a perfectly optimized sleep lab inside your bedroom.
At the end of the day, bedtime doesn’t need to be an overbearing experiment. Bedtime just needs slightly less stress, less screen time, and a routine that doesn’t fall apart emotionally because the lavender spray bottle ran empty. Some is easier said than done, but these best sellers will definitely make sleep easier.
Sleep Inducing Gummies: Oola Sleep Ease Gummies
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