The trend: Health experts are beginning to speak out against the latest wellness trend to go viral on TikTok, “sleepmaxxing.”
Sleepmaxxing is a social media-created term that encompasses a range of products, gadgets, supplements, and techniques designed to optimize one’s sleep. Examples include taking magnesium, wearing red light glasses, taping your mouth closed, and using white noise machines or weighted blankets.
How the sleepmaxxing trend started: Content creators on TikTok (chiefly, Gen Zers) have “reclaimed their right to a full night of sleep, and they have done that without embarrassment,” according to the director of UC Berkeley’s sleep center who was interviewed by the New York Times.