Sleep therapy is big business. AÂ 2017 McKinsey report into what it terms the sleep-health economy asserted that 100m Americans are continuously looking for a good night’s sleep. To meet this need, there are 2,800 sleep labs in the country, generating $7bn a year – with another $1bn spent on sleeping pills and $8bn on mattresses and heaven knows how much on bedding.
All of which raises the question of what a sleep deprived soul did before mankind had pills to pop. The ancient Greek genius Socrates left us with solutions for most things. Even sleep, as we read on the first page of Book IX of The Republic, Plato’s biography of his teacher.
Socrates advises a light meal and a healthy and temperate pulse before heading for bed. Next step for the man seeking a good night’s sleep, he says, is to awaken their rational powers, feed them noble thoughts and inquiries and “collect himself in meditation.” Sounds like peace of mind has unrecognised benefits. Financial ones too, given the cost of sleep therapy.
