Sleep coaches are moving beyond babies and helping adults

Sleep has become a booming business, with myriad startups claiming they have just the device, app, or supplement to achieve a good night’s rest.

You could drop several grand on Eight Sleep’s “sleep system,” which changes temperatures and elevation while playing white noise. You could check into a sleep hotel or listen to an adult bedtime story.

You could even build a “sleep stack,” which, according to tech bros interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, includes a variety of air purifiers, posh pajamas, sleep masks, and ear plugs.

Or, you could just be a baby about it…

… and hire a sleep coach

Sleep coaches or consultants typically offer sleep training for children — babies or toddlers who wake up often, resist naps or bedtime, or are having trouble adjusting to sleeping in their own bed or crib.

Yet sleep coaches have increasingly expanded to help all of us overstimulated, anxiety-addled adults. Wired spoke to one sleep consultant who expanded her practice to adults after noticing how exhausted the parents of children she treated were.

• She typically offers 12 sessions over three months to figure out why people are having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or both, and comes up with a plan that goes beyond the usual sleep hygiene tips (blackout curtains, white noise, etc.).
• For example, she found one client was eating too late at night. Another drank too much water, resulting in midnight bathroom trips. 

The American Council of Exercise recently announced a new Sleep & Recovery Coach Course with sleep educator Nick Lambe, designed for personal trainers  and fitness pros who want to add sleep and recovery science to their offerings.

Of course, like every profession…

... robots are coming.

• Sleep tracking app Sleep Cycle launched Luma, an AI-powered sleep coach, in December. It uses data from the app to offer insights and recommendations for better sleep.
• Garmin added its own Sleep Coach to select watches. It recommends how much sleep you need based on everything else it tracks. 

That said, would any of these robots tell you to move the flat-screen TV out of your bedroom because “your bed is for sex and sleep only” like sleep coach Ingrid Prueher? Because we appreciate that kind of bluntness.