Sleep is the new status symbol for successful entrepreneurs

Sleep is the new status symbol for successful entrepreneurs

Marian Salzman, a trend spotter and chief executive of Havas PR North America, proclaimed in 2007 that ‘sleep is the new sex’. What she predicted was a cultural swing in boasting: the successful, the powerful, the high-flying entrepreneurs would tweet not of midnight conquests and VIP parties, but of great sleep… sleep that lasted 7-9 hours!

That prediction has been proved true and in 2017, she has taken it one step further declaring that ‘sleep is the new status symbol’. And like all status symbols, people will do anything to get it.

And so there has been a flood, a barage, of sleep tech products. From sleep belts that record everything, temperature-controlled mattresses that warm you up or cool you down, to vibrating pillows that disrupt your snoring- there is a gadget out there for all who seek sleep.

Penelope Green writes in an article for the New York Times  how a West Coast entrepreneur described sleep as a “human potential enhancer” – a skill to be cultivated and nourished. If sleep is a fountain of youth, offering longer life, more beauty and better decision-making, then you must be crazy not to want it?

And so the sleepless titans have fallen.

Presidents, CEOs and Fortune 500 company creators who are known and respected for their high-performance, low sleep lifestyle are no longer envied, but pitied. They are seen as sufferes of a genetic-mutation that robs them of the ability to enjoy a good night’s sleep… poor Martha Stewart and pity Donald Trump.

The enviable are those with a dream job who work hard during the day and sleep hard at night, folk like Tim Cook, CEO of Apple who boasts seven hours of sleep and TV host Ellen DeGeneres who scores eight hours of sleep per night.

Sleep-deprivation, caffeine-overload and smoking are no longer signs of a good life. Instead, they have been replaced with Instagram feeds full of sleep graphs that boast about a night full of uninterrupted, health-giving sleep, chamomile tea, meditation and naps taken at work.

Investing in sleep has never been so fashionable. At Sealy, we’ve been celebrating good sleep for 50 years.

Use our store locator to experience how a Sealy makes you feel. Buy a bed and you could win your share of R250 000!

Written by Roxanne Atkinson