(New Africa / Shutterstock.com)
Vacations are being redefined to improve your wellness experience. The new buzzword is ‘sleep tourism’ and the focus is on ensuring that you rest well at night and actually return from your vacation feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
When away, vacationers traditionally like to make use of every second of the day. They rush from site to site, eat indulgent meals at all hours of the day, and splurge on shows at night. Sleep is often put aside with the intent of catching up on lost shuteye when travelers return home, reported Forbes.
Many tourists have trouble sleeping
And when vacationers finally get to their hotel room at night, they find it hard to sleep. In fact, 63 percent of Americans have trouble sleeping when they are away, according to Travel Agent Central. Urban hotels may be centrally located, but noisy traffic and flashing city lights often pervade hotel rooms.
Noise aside, many people simply do not sleep well when they are away from their own bed. This may simply reflect being a creature of habit, explains Condé Nast Traveler. People may have pain at night, allergies, and hormonal issues that make sleep challenging when away.
Sleep tourism addresses these issues and more. Special sleep suites have been thoughtfully designed to offer quiet, darkness, and serenity. Hotels are investing in artificial intelligence mattresses that control climate and have cushions to relieve pressure points. The mattresses can also track sleep statistics and offer vacationers feedback on their sleep patterns.
Some feel that these sleep suites are a result of the pandemic, a time when many people suffered from a reduction in the quality of their sleep, reports CNN.
“There has been heightened attention to sleep in the Covid-19 era, and likely, because so many people have struggled with this. Now, I think there’s just been a huge seismic shift in our collective awareness and prioritization on wellness and wellbeing,” sleep researcher Dr. Rebecca Robbins told CNN.
A huge advance in tourism
Sleep suites are a huge advance in tourism and are now found in wellness hotels around the world. Each offers different ways of inducing sleep, according to Condé Nast Traveler. Many provide a menu of relaxing teas, aromatherapy, in-room melatonin, and a customized bed. Or, you can escape noise and light pollution by glamping in a geodesic dome below meteor showers in a desert.
You can even dedicate your trip to sleep wellness. Some spa hotels offer a lounger with headphones and mask, energy healing, acupuncture, an opportunity to float in a bath of Epsom salt, plus meditation pods complete with rhythmic beats and colored lights.
No matter which sleep suite you choose, the goal is to sleep well so you can improve your health and well-being. Sinking into a comfortable bed should be the best part of a trip!
The hope is that more hotels adapt to this wellness trend and return to the original purpose of a hotel room, which is sleep! Now you can tour around by day and have sweet dreams by night.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
What is Your Sleep Style? [Quiz]
5 Houseplants That Help Invite Sleep
How to Find the Best Sleeping Position, According to Science
