Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Nov 20, 2025

Inside the $70 billion industry designed to help you sleep

Including weighted blankets, hoodie pillows, and sleep trackers for your finger
This article, Inside the $70 billion industry designed to help you sleep, originally appeared on CBSNews.com

Over the past few years, humans have been waking up to the fact that to our well-being and productivity. The resulting has created a $70 billion industry, full of products aimed at helping you.

Elizabeth Segran has taken full advantage of the burgeoning industry, filling her bedroom with a variety of gadgets that help her get the 8 ½ hours of sleep she said she desperately needs each night to function. "Sleep is hard," she said.

Segran, who reports on the sleep industry for Fast Company magazine, said that "we've begun to realize that enough sleep is key to being optimal, to being productive."

"It's your health. It's your weight. It's your productivity at work, all of those things," said "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-host Dana Jacobson.

"So you get a little test kit they give you, and they give what're called little flights," Segran explained. "And then you try it out and then you see what works for you before you order the amount that you need."

Once she's asleep, a sleep tracker under her mattress tells her the length and quality of her slumber. "And then it also offers you advice," Segran said. "So it coaches you."

The company Sleep Number started embedding sleep trackers in all of their mattresses, calculating what it calls your "SleepIQ." The company's beds also adjust firmness throughout the night and even offer a layer that fits under your sheets that controls the temperature of the bed. Dr. Thanuja Hamilton said sleep is priceless – but that getting it doesn't have to be expensive. "I suggest setting an alarm at night, about half an hour before bed," she said. "That's when that trigger goes off, you start winding down. If you want to meditate, if you want to write a little bit, set that ritual for bedtime and don't be late to bed."

Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith started their company, "Calm," as a meditation app. But it quickly evolved into something more.

"About 2 ½ years ago … we noticed there was a big spike every night, just before 11:00 p.m., all around the world, of people who were listening to the meditations to help them fall asleep," said Acton Smith.

Their high-tech solution? Bedtime stories. "We thought, 'What if we could create bedtime tales that were designed to help people drift off to sleep?' And we used to love, when we were kids, to have stories read to us," Acton Smith said. There are now 144 stories available in the calm app, including tennis legend John McEnroe reading "The Rules of Tennis."

"Wonder," narrated by Matthew McConaughey, has been listened to 4.3 million times. Tew said he and his wife have listened to astronaut Terry Virts' story around 500 times. "It still works because it's almost become a signal to us," he said. "As soon as it comes on, it's time to sleep." Calm has broadened its reach to include physical products, too, including a partnership with weighted blanket company Gravity and a branded mist pillow spray with essential oils.

Tew and Acton Smith test out a weighted blanket and essential oil spray on Dana Jacobson CBS News

With so many products, it's easy to get wrapped up in the excitement. But as someone who's tested all of these products, Elizabeth Segran offered a tip for overwhelmed buyers. "I think it's really important to diagnose why you're not sleeping," she said. "So is it that you're extremely anxious? If so, then you need to think about the things that you can do to relieve that anxiety … if the problem is that, you know, you're sleeping hot … perhaps what you need is bed sheets that are climate-specific"

But unfortunately, there's one problem brands haven't figured out: adding more hours in the day.

"I think [that's] one thing that the companies can't really help us with," Segran said with a laugh.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Caribbean Reparations Commission Seeks ‘Mutually Beneficial’ Justice from UK
EU Insists UK Must Contribute Financially for Access to Electricity Market and Broader Ties
UK to Outlaw Live-Event Ticket Resales Above Face Value
President Donald Trump Hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at White House to Seal Major Defence and Investment Deals
German Entertainment Icons Alice and Ellen Kessler Die Together at Age 89
UK Unveils Sweeping Asylum Reforms with 20-Year Settlement Wait and Conditional Status
UK Orders Twitter Hacker to Repay £4.1 Million Following 2020 High-Profile Breach
Popeyes UK Eyes Century Mark as Fried-Chicken Chain Accelerates Roll-out
Two-thirds of UK nurses report working while unwell amid staffing crisis
Britain to Reform Human-Rights Laws in Sweeping Asylum Policy Overhaul
Nearly Half of Job Losses Under Labour Government Affect UK Youth
UK Chancellor Reeves Eyes High-Value Home Levy in Budget to Raise Tens of Billions
UK Urges Poland to Choose Swedish Submarines in Multi-Billion € Defence Bid
US Border Czar Tom Homan Declares UK No Longer a ‘Friend’ Amid Intelligence Rift
UK Announces Reversal of Income Tax Hike Plans Ahead of Budget
Starmer Faces Mounting Turmoil as Leaked Briefings Ignite Leadership Plot Rumours
UK Commentator Sami Hamdi Returns Home After US Visa Revocation and Detention
UK Eyes Denmark-Style Asylum Rules in Major Migration Shift
UK Signals Intelligence Freeze Amid US Maritime Drug-Strike Campaign
TikTok Awards UK & Ireland 2025 Celebrates Top Creators Including Max Klymenko as Creator of the Year
UK Growth Nearly Stalls at 0.1% in Q3 as Cyberattack Halts Car Production
Apple Denied Permission to Appeal UK App Store Ruling, Faces Over £1bn Liability
UK Chooses Wylfa for First Small Modular Reactors, Drawing Sharp U.S. Objection
Starmer Faces Growing Labour Backlash as Briefing Sparks Authority Crisis
Reform UK Withdraws from BBC Documentary Amid Legal Storm Over Trump Speech Edit
UK Prime Minister Attempts to Reassert Authority Amid Internal Labour Leadership Drama
UK Upholds Firm Rules on Stablecoins to Shield Financial System
Brussels Divided as UK-EU Reset Stalls Over Budget Access
Prince Harry’s Remembrance Day Essay Expresses Strong Regret at Leaving Britain
UK Unemployment Hits 5% as Wage Growth Slows, Paving Way for Bank of England Rate Cut
Starmer Warns of Resurgent Racism in UK Politics as He Vows Child-Poverty Reforms
UK Grocery Inflation Slows to 4.7% as Supermarkets Launch Pre-Christmas Promotions
UK Government Backs the BBC amid Editing Scandal and Trump Threat of Legal Action
UK Assessment Mis-Estimated Fallout From Palestine Action Ban, Records Reveal
UK Halts Intelligence Sharing with US Amid Lethal Boat-Strike Concerns
King Charles III Leads Britain in Remembrance Sunday Tribute to War Dead
UK Retail Sales Growth Slows as Households Hold Back Ahead of Black Friday and Budget
Shell Pulls Out of Two UK Floating Wind Projects Amid Renewables Retreat
Viagogo Hit With £15 Million Tax Bill After HMRC Transfer-Pricing Inquiry
Jaguar Land Rover Cyberattack Pinches UK GDP, Bank of England Says
UK and Germany Sound Alarm on Russian-Satellite Threat to Critical Infrastructure
Former Prince Andrew Faces U.S. Congressional Request for Testimony Amid Brexit of Royal Title
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness Resign Amid Editing Controversy
Tom Cruise Arrives by Helicopter at UK Scientology Fundraiser Amid Local Protests
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson Face Fresh UK Probes Amid Royal Fallout
Mothers Link Teen Suicides to AI Chatbots in Growing Legal Battle
UK Government to Mirror Denmark’s Tough Immigration Framework in Major Policy Shift
UK Government Turns to Denmark-Style Immigration Reforms to Overhaul Border Rules
UK Chancellor Warned Against Cutting Insulation Funding as Budget Looms
UK Tenant Complaints Hit Record Levels as Rental Sector Faces Mounting Pressure
×