Why 'sleepmaxxing' could be making your sleep worse

A growing number of people are turning the simple act of sleeping into a high‑stakes optimisation project known as “sleepmaxxing,” only to find that the very tools they rely on may be worsening their rest. Doctors are now warning that an obsessive focus on achieving a perfect “sleep score” from wrist‑worn trackers, smart rings and other gadgets can lead to orthosomnia – a condition characterised by anxiety over sleep quality that, while not formally recognised in the UK, is increasingly evident in clinical consultations. Patients arrive with detailed data from devices such as Fitbit, Garmin, Whoop, Apple Watch and Oura rings, convinced they have a sleep disorder despite medical tests showing otherwise, and the fixation on these metrics is actually disrupting their ability to fall and stay asleep.

The problem stems from the fact that the “sleep score” is a marketing invention rather than a scientifically validated measure. Dr Alanna Hare, a consultant in sleep medicine at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital, explains that no recognised sleep science defines such a score, and that the anxiety it provokes can itself impair sleep. Research supports this link: an Oxford‑based study gave participants randomised, fabricated sleep scores and found that those told they had slept poorly reported higher fatigue, lower alertness and poorer performance the next day, despite having slept just as well as others. A proposed lawsuit in San Francisco alleges that Oura rings rely on AI‑generated estimates of sleep stages that are essentially a “coin flip” in accuracy, a claim the company rebuts by emphasizing its commitment to transparent communication about what it measures and estimates. The underlying technology of most consumer trackers remains limited to actigraphy – measuring movement – which, as sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley notes, cannot capture the brain activity that truly defines sleep stages.

Personal accounts illustrate how the gamification of sleep can trap users in a self‑fulfilling cycle of worry. Jess Hill, a 32‑year‑old HR professional in London, describes three years of relying on her Garmin watch as a “Bible” for sleep quality, adjusting her expectations and daily performance based on the device’s scores, even when they contradicted her own experience of waking for hours during the night. Dr Stanley adds that without direct measurement of brain activity, trackers can only approximate sleep, and the pursuit of a numeric target often leads to heightened stress. Experts therefore recommend returning to basic sleep hygiene: a bedroom that is cool, dim and reasonably quiet, exposure to bright light in the morning, and a mindset that accepts natural variability rather than chasing an illusory perfect score. By shifting focus away from constant monitoring and toward these proven environmental cues, sleepers may break the orthosomnia loop and improve both the quantity and quality of their rest.

⚡ Effects Interpreter