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Forget sleepmaxxing — mindfulness is the key to better sleep, says expert
How far would you go for the perfect night's sleep? The quest to do anything for better rest, encapsulated by the sleepmaxxing trend, has led many to take extreme measures to drift off.
But might we all sleep better if we stopped trying so hard?
Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts, yoga instructor at Peloton and self-confessed "recovering perfectionist", recommends ditching the pursuit of perfection in favor of a mindful approach to sleep, one that allows for growth, change and, yes, the occasional bad night.
For Sleep Awareness Week 2025, I spoke to Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts about her nighttime routine, "softer approach" to sleep and why practice is better than perfection when it comes to your rest.
"We practice sleep each and every day," explains Dr. Jackson Roberts. "That's, to me, a way to take the pressure off of perfection."
Sleepmaxxing vs mindful minimalism
Sleepmaxxing (literally, maximizing your sleep) encourages people to achieve better rest through increasingly obscure relaxation methods.
Popularized by TikTok, sleepmaxxing aims to create the perfect night's sleep using everything from sleepy girl mocktails to taping your mouth shut.
But focusing too much on your sleep routine can actually make it harder to achieve quality rest. With so much pressure to sleep through the night, you might find the added stress means you can't drift off at all.
A mindful sleep routine takes the opposite approach, alleviating the pressure of sleepmaxxing by preaching practice, rather than perfection.
"It's really about being in partnership with the mind and deciding 'how am I going to work with all of the parts of me right now so that I can recover and come back even better the next day?'" explains Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts, yoga instructor who teaches mindfulness for better sleep.
For Dr. Jackson Roberts, it's less about finding a magic sleep fix, and more about creating "things to anchor [your]selves into at the end of the day for a great night's sleep."
That's what her mindful methods aim to create: a reliable sleep routine you can adapt and change depending on your needs.
And she has some advice for those struggling to get going: "[try] starting in small increments, letting go of perfection, just getting into the consistency and routine of it all, and having fun with it."
Dr Chelsea Jackson Roberts is an internationally celebrated Peloton yoga teacher who is highly regarded as a leader in a new generation of yogis who are passionate about expanding the visibility of who is commonly seen as Teacher. She received a PhD in Education Studies and has made it her life work to study the positive impact of yoga on the community. She recently launched the series 7 Days to Better Sleep at Peloton.
What does a mindful approach to sleep look like?
A mindful approach to sleep emphasizes listening to your own needs, rather than following a set of instructions. Here's how to get started...
Practice, not perfection
The central tenet of Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts' approach is that we can never perfect going to sleep — but with practice, we can consistently improve our slumber.
I've been practicing yoga and meditation for over 20 years, and I always approach it with still a beginner's mind
She encourages focusing on the act of meditation, rather than the "result" (in this case, falling asleep.)
"I'm a recovering perfectionist," explains Dr. Jackson Roberts. "It helps me to kind of ease into the practice when I don't feel like; 'I should do it this way', or 'this has to be the result'."
"I've been practicing yoga and meditation for over 20 years, and I always approach it with still a beginner's mind," says Dr. Jackson Roberts.
Start small and grow your routine
Many of us struggle with upkeep when it comes to meditation. After several nights of 30 minute meditation and studious repetition, you skip one session and the next thing you know, the practice has been completely abandoned.
But with a mindful approach to sleep, these mistakes and slip ups aren't a big deal.
"If you miss a day, so what? Let it go and you just pick it up, even if it's after a month, after a year," says Dr. Jackson Roberts.
In fact, making mistakes can actually be a good thing, as it helps you develop a pre-bed routine that's right for you.
Skipping sessions can be a sign that you're not happy with your approach. "If my yoga and meditation practice is not practical for me, then what is the point?" asks Dr. Jackson Roberts.
And here's where the minimalism comes in. Rather than attempting a sleepmaxximized, overwhelming meditation routine you can't commit to, start with small steps that are easy to fit into your day and expand.
These small increments can still have benefits, according to Dr. Jackson Roberts.
"I think that the more that we practice — whether we're sitting for meditation for five minutes, 10 minutes — that's building a block for us to utilize."
A dynamic approach to sleep
Dynamism and sleep might seem like opposing concepts, but with a mindful approach, change is essential. Dr. Jackson Roberts preaches practice over perfection for one important reason: perfection doesn't exist.
And as we can never perfect our sleep routine, it needs to continually evolve to suit our needs.
"I don't know if I would be as invested [in meditation] if it was so static. I need to change it up," says Dr. Jackson Roberts. "You can approach it in a way that feeds curiosity and doesn't feed the need to be perfect."
Because what helps you sleep one night might not have the same benefit the next and that's all part of the fun.
"It's trial and error and I get excited about that," says Dr. Jackson Roberts. "Sometimes I want to switch it up."
Reframing the day as a positive
Eliminating perfection around sleep means being kind to yourself when things don't go to plan (no more taking a berating from your sleep tracker over last night's five hours.)
And this approach starts the night before, as you take time to assess the day before going to sleep.
This is particularly useful if you tend to use the hour before bed to get frustrated at the things you failed to complete that day (or week, or month, or lifetime...)
"Oftentimes that is what causes that restless sleep; the things that we didn't check off of our to do list," says Dr. Jackson Roberts.
But she explains that through visualization and a mindful approach, "we make peace with that."
Rather than focusing on all the things that went wrong that day, think about the good things you'll do tomorrow.
And after a disrupted night, you can celebrate the hours of sleep you did get — "Hey, maybe my sleep was rough this night, but what if I approached it with a positive attitude and let's see what happens," says Dr. Jackson Roberts.
Inside Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts' routine
Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts' 7 days to to better sleep at Peloton offers a beginners guide to mindful sleep, broken down into easy chunks to help you fall asleep fast.
But as with the rest of Dr. Jackson Roberts' approach to sleep, you have freedom to create your own path. "It doesn't have to be this linear practice, I'm all for you listening and developing that trust of your inner teacher."
Let's explore three of the most common methods.
1. Body scan
Working from the head all the way down to the toes, body scanning is a meditation method that encourages connecting with yourself and grounding yourself within your body.
"I think that body scan meditations are a great way for us to assess, to even celebrate, all of the accomplishments our body has gone through," suggests Dr. Jackson Roberts. "But then also to say it's time to rest now."
2. Breath work
Like body scans, breathing methods for sleep encourage connecting with your body to find a sense of calm.
"We are bringing all of our intention and attention to the breath so that we can notice the [breathing] tendencies that we have," explains Dr. Jackson Roberts.
"These techniques are designed for us to slowly, together, begin to settle [the breath], settle the mind."
But don't worry if you're struggling to achieve the deep, slow whooosh we associate with meditation. "It's really being in partnership with the mind, and deciding, 'how am I going to work with all of the parts of me right now so that I can recover and come back even better the next day?'" advises Dr. Jackson Roberts.
3. Sensory exploration
For those of us with buzzing minds before bed, sensory exploration is a grounding technique recommended by Dr. Jackson Roberts for finding calm.
"You pause and you listen to what's around you that helps you to settle, because you're being grounded in the 'what is.'"
That means shifting your thoughts away from nebulous worries and anxieties into the here and now. "What do I hear right now? What do I feel right now? What do I smell right now?" says Dr. Jackson Roberts.
"We're taking you through that sensory exploration in order for you to get grounded and say, 'I'm safe right now'. I can sleep, I can rest, I can recover."
