Modern Vocabulary: ORTHOSOMNIA

Maxing that sleep

Saturdays are perfect days for somniferous surprises. Surprise—we’re talking about the practice of orthosomnia today!

Have you heard of the health craze sleepmaxxing? You probably don’t need to know the root MAX- meaning greatest to figure out that this practice promotes pursuing the most high quality sleep possible. Considering the abundant physiological and psychological benefit of getting enough sleep—and the ruinous detriments of insufficient snoozing—this trend certainly appears healthy enough. But where did it come from?

The roots of sleepmaxxing may be traceable as far back as Sleeping Beauty, but the first citation of the scientific term for this practice appeared in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine in February 2017 in a case study titled Orthosomnia: Are Some Patients Taking the Quantified Self Too Far? Interestingly, the authors decried how “patients' inferred correlation between sleep tracker data and daytime fatigue may become a perfectionistic quest for the ideal sleep in order to optimize daytime function.” Sounds like sleepmaxxing to me.

orthosomnia (noun) - obsessive pursuit of ideal or optimal sleep
BREAKDOWN: ORTHO- (correct) + SOMN- (sleep) + -IA (state of)

That said, getting high quality sleep on a daily basis does provide tons of benefits, so indulging in a bit of sleepmaxxing sounds safe. Here are some tips for better sleep. Pleasant dreams!

“Nothing comes to a sleeper but a dream.” —Serena Williams