The sleep trends experts think you should, and should not, try

NEW YORK – Dr Sujay Kansagra spends enough time on social media to have opinions about even the most obscure sleep hacks.

Often, said Dr Kansagra, who is a sleep physician at academic and healthcare system Duke Health, they are not backed by strong scientific evidence.

This is especially true for trends or techniques that promise instant results, he said. If you see a video claiming that listening to soothing tapping sounds or pressing trigger points on your wrist, for example, can help you fall asleep in seconds, it is probably not true.

Still, there are some sleep strategies that do draw from legitimate science, he said.

The New York Times (NYT) asked Dr Kansagra and four other sleep experts if some of the sleep hacks on social media can really help one fall and stay asleep.

Here is what they said to try and what to skip.

1. Pass on the mouth tape

Some on social media claim that mouth taping, which involves sealing your lips shut with a piece of skin-friendly adhesive, can prevent snoring and improve sleep by forcing you to breathe through your nose.

While it is true that breathing through your nose can help reduce snoring, there is no strong evidence that mouth taping improves sleep quality, said Dr Akinbolaji Akingbola, a sleep medicine physician at the University of Minnesota.

Regular snoring can be a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea, a condition marked by potentially dangerous pauses in breathing during sleep.

If you use mouth tape to stymie snores instead of seeing a doctor, you might miss the chance of diagnosing a real medical condition and receiving proper treatment, Dr Kansagra said.

2. Limit blue-light exposure

Blue light, a type of light emitted by electronics such as televisions, smartphones, laptops and many bright light bulbs, can trick your brain into thinking it is daytime, keeping you alert, said Oregon Health & Science University sleep and circadian rhythm scientist Andrew McHill.

Any trend that encourages avoiding blue light before bedtime – or replacing blue light-emitting light bulbs in your home with ones that emit amber or red light, as some on social media recommend – will probably help you sleep, experts said.

Beginning one to three hours before you go to bed, Dr Akingbola recommended dimming bright lights and using fewer electronics.

Even limiting your exposure for just 30 minutes before your bedtime can help, Dr Kansagra said.

But do not assume that certain products or product features, such as blue light-blocking glasses or blue light-filter modes on electronics – like the “Night Shift” feature on Apple products – will actually reduce your exposure enough to improve your sleep.

There is no strong evidence that they block enough blue light for this effect, said Dr Angela Holliday-Bell, a sleep physician in Chicago.

3. Do not use supplements as sleeping pills

Tech entrepreneur and longevity influencer Bryan Johnson takes a low dose of melatonin every night – as part of his elaborate daily supplement regimen – to help him get a perfect night’s sleep.

Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, a popular podcast host, claims certain types of magnesium supplements can shorten the “transition time into sleep” and promote deeper slumber.

While these supplements can be useful for certain situations – melatonin, for instance, can help one adjust to a new time zone, and there is some (albeit very limited) evidence that magnesium supplements might help certain people fall asleep faster – the experts NYT spoke to did not endorse using these supplements as regular sleep aids or as treatments for chronic insomnia.

They are not likely to be toxic when taken as recommended, Dr Kansagra said. But using them every night could be harmful in other ways. They can be expensive and are not well-studied, so you might be spending a lot of money on something that is not proven to help.

And they may become a crutch for a potentially more serious sleep issue that could require a proper diagnosis and treatment plan.

4. Try certain mental exercises

Social media is teeming with mental sleep hacks, like the classic “counting sheep” approach, that require only your imagination.

One exercise, called cognitive shuffling, involves thinking of a word (“whale”, for example) and then coming up with as many other words that begin with the same first letter (“w”) as you can. Then, you move on to words that begin with the second letter (“h”), then the third and so on until you fall asleep.

Another mental exercise involves imagining a familiar house – not your own – and mentally walking through every room. Picture the house in as much detail as possible, focusing on its doorways, furniture and artwork. Some people on TikTok say it works so well that they never make it upstairs before falling asleep.

These methods have not been rigorously studied, but it makes sense – at least in theory – that they may help some people fall asleep, said Professor Allison Harvey, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley.

Such mental exercises can distract you from any worries or stress-inducing thoughts that may be keeping you up, she said.

However, they will not work for everyone, she added. Instead, they should be just one of many sleep-inducing strategies you use.

5. Keep a worry journal

Whether you use a dedicated journal or a blank piece of paper, writing down any anxiety-provoking thoughts before bed – as some tout on social media – can help you fall asleep, Dr Harvey said.

When you carve out dedicated “worry time”, as she calls it, to jot down any fears, cumbersome tasks or problems you have been trying to solve, your brain has a chance to process them before you try to nod off.

If you do not give yourself this space, which is ideally two hours between doing the exercise and falling asleep, she added, you risk lying in bed with your mind racing.

Dr Akingbola agreed that writing about your worries in a journal can help you fall asleep.

But try to avoid doing it in bed, he said, so that you do not create a negative association between bed and stressful thoughts. NYTIMES