The rise of the sleep data nerds: ‘The harder you try, the harder it is to sleep’

From The Guardian, 20 October 2025:

The first thing Annie and her partner do when they wake up in the morning is ask each other how well they slept. “And I literally say, ‘I’m not sure yet, let me check,’” – and Annie, a chief people and safety officer, reaches for her smartwatch.

Annie started monitoring because she worried she wasn’t getting enough good-quality sleep. Now she’s a self-confessed sleep data “nerd”, mining her sleep data for insights into her general health and wellbeing, using it to inform lifestyle decisions and even occasionally to guide how much she aims to accomplish in a day.

Sleep monitoring is a boom industry, mirroring what devices and apps such as Fitbits and Strava have done for physical activity. Market reports vary on the value of this industry, but it is clearly lucrative and growing rapidly. A quick search reveals a wide range of devices – rings, headbands, watches and other wrist-worn devices, under-mattress devices and bedside devices – all suggesting their use will unlock such quality sleep as to make Rip Van Winkle jealous. Read more.