Orthosomnia

Orthosomnia is the term sleep researchers coined for an unhealthy preoccupation with achieving "perfect" sleep, typically driven by data from a consumer sleep tracker. It is the sleep-specific form of a general pattern: worrying about sleep is itself a reliable way to lose it.

What the evidence says

• The Economist (2026-06-06) reports that as many as 30% of people who track their sleep feel anxious about the data they collect. This figure is not stated in the AASM's own 2025 survey release and should be treated as unverified.
• AASM 2025 survey (n=2,007 US adults, June 2025): 76% of respondents had lost sleep because of worries about sleep problems — worry about sleep is second only to financial worry as a cause of sleepless nights.
• The same survey found 55% of tracker users changed their behaviour after seeing their data; behaviour change and anxiety are two faces of the same feedback loop.

Why sleep is different from diet or exercise

Effort and attention improve diet and exercise adherence. Sleep is the reverse: it is an involuntary state that effortful striving tends to suppress. Trackers add a scored, nightly verdict on that state, often built partly on sleep-stage estimates that agree with polysomnography only moderately (kappa 0.55-0.65 across the leading devices — see Sleep Tracking). A poor score can therefore reflect device error as much as a poor night, yet still generate anxiety.

The experts' counter-advice (as reported, not a recommendation)

• Michael Grandner (University of Arizona): "Don't freak out about any particular number, unless it's a very unusual number." Duration is one dimension; quality, regularity and continuity matter too.
• Junhao Wen (Columbia, lead author of the 2026 Nature ageing-clock study): listen to the body and aim to wake refreshed.
• The Economist's bottom line in both pieces: whether you wake feeling rested is the best single indicator of a good night.

Open questions

• Prevalence is poorly measured; the 30% figure needs a primary source.
• No study yet tests whether removing a tracker from an orthosomnic user improves measured sleep.

Related

• Sleep Tracking — the devices and their accuracy.
• Sleep Duration and Mortality — the population "sweet spot" that drives the number-chasing.
• Should You Use a Sleep Tracker (Economist) · Is Too Much Sleep as Bad as Too Little (Economist)