Sleep Industry Made $32 Billion in 2012

Today, Time magazine's website posted an article by Kit Yarrow, Ph.D. about the healthy state of the sleep industry in America -- about $32 billion (yes -- with a b) healthy.  All of this money is spent on stuff to help us go to sleep, including:

• high-end specialty mattresses
• books about how to get a decent night's sleep
• natural "sleep remedies" often made with melatonin
• herbal teas to make you sleepy
• sleep monitoring devices
• bath products to help you relax and make you drowsy
• aromatherapy oils and burners
• bath products made with aromatherapy oils to make you drowsy

Well, you get the idea.

Yarrow, a teacher of psychology, writes:

Obviously, sleep is important. Whether it’s necessary to cough up big bucks to improve sleep is more debatable.

 

I'm not a psychologist or Ph.D holder, but I don't think whether we need to spend big bucks to get big Zs is debatable.  Getting enough sleep and even getting to sleep in the first place is damn hard work.   Yarrow points out that Americans are used to quick fixes (especially anything with the word "natural" in it) and are constantly used to being on the go.  Perhaps Americans never quite got over the Puritan work ethic, so that a good night's sleep is somehow too sinful to contemplate -- unless you pay for it.

And, sadly, despite the big bucks being shelled out, Americans are as sleep-deprived as ever.  In fact, the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls it "a public health epidemic."  About 50 to 70 million Americans don't get enough sleep, according to the CDC. 

Looks like the sleep industry will be a thriving industry for years to come.

Image by Vangelis for Dreamstme Free Stock Images