Vanessa Hill

Like socialization is important for well-being.

Having a strong sense of self is important for well-being.

So how do we balance all of these things like sleep health and mental health and socializing and self-identity?

How do they all fit together in the puzzle of our overall health?

I mean, there's a whole industry that supports it, right?

From my perspective, stress and anxiety are the top reasons why people have trouble falling asleep.

So I think that wind down routines are super important.

If there is technology that supports you winding down, whether that is some fancy EEG headband that you can meditate with, whether that is a white noise machine, whether that is some kind of weighted blanket that can help you feel more secure,

I am all for that.

I do think that technology and these different innovations are tools that we can use in our very chaotic, busy lives to help us de-stress and to help us wind down and to help us just feel at peace in the evening, which can help us fall asleep, right?

So I'm definitely not opposed to the greater sleep industry in that sense.

Something that does bug me, if we want to talk about that.

is how a lot of these innovations fall into the marketing and advertising cycle where they promise better sleep.

And I think that that's really hard to prove.

That could look different for everyone.

And

What it can do is lead people to when they can't sleep, buy products rather than talk to their physician.

The amount of people who come to me and say, Vanessa, I'm just having trouble sleeping.

What do you think I should buy to help?

And the answer to that is no.