THE MOST WOKE WAYS TO GET MORE SLEEP

There’s a $40 billion global market dedicated to helping you get more – and better – shut-eye. We break down two new innovations at the forefront of the rest revolution

Hit a “nap bar” and train your brain to lucid dream.

Have you heard the one about how sleep will change your life? Of course you have. We all know lack of sleep comes with a laundry list of side effects, from decreased productivity to a dissipated sex drive, depression and anxiety. We know, and yet all this thinking about losing sleep is making us anxious, which means we’re less likely to sleep. It’s a vicious, exhausting cycle.

But experts are no longer concerned simply with how much we sleep, they now want to know how effectively we sleep, as well. Studies show that dreaming helps us to cope with stress, retain memories and regenerate neurochemicals like moodboosting serotonin.

The new forefront of the rest revolution is lucid dreaming, the state where you’re aware you’re asleep and can control your dreams to heal emotional trauma, find creative stimulation and ascend to spiritual heights. But what if your dreams aren’t memorable? What if the second you wake up, you can’t recall any of the wacky, wonderful worlds you visited last night? Dream guide Tree Carr says this can be overcome as anyone can have lucid dreams – she has one every 10 days. She advises keeping a journal to kickstart your dream recall and from there it’s a question of mindfulness and intent. Six times a day, she says, you should focus on an object, taking in every detail of it. Repeat to yourself that you will see the object in your dreams. When you do, you know you’re conscious. Try to pick it up. Congratulations! You just went lucid.

“I always tell dreamers to be patient,” says Carr. She also recommends drinking tea made with dried mugwort (yes, it looks as suspicious as it sounds) to stimulate dream memory. Also on the to-do list: banishing all technology and nightcaps from the bedroom, for a clean sleep in the manner of Gwyneth Paltrow. “Your bed is a sanctuary for your dream journey,” says Carr. “So anything that isn’t to do with dreaming or sex is out of the room.”

For those in need of a lie-in more than a lucid dream, there’s Pop & Rest (popnrest.com), London’s first dedicated nap bar. For $14 you get half an hour’s peace and quiet in a blacked-out pod while a speaker wafts rainforest muzak.

Similarly, you can book a booth to nap in mattress start-up Casper’s space, The Dreamery, in NYC (dreamerybycasper. com). It looks and feels like a just-opened hotel, and while you can’t stay for good, you can snooze in chic PJS from luxe sleepwear brand Sleepy Jones – there are even Sunday Riley toiletries on hand to freshen up afterwards.

According to experts, a short burst of rest for 20 to 30 minutes during the day can help you become more productive. And while training yourself to sleep well can take time, Carr says it’s not that complicated: “It’s not rocket science,” she laughs. “We have been dreaming for thousands of years. We just need to reconnect with ourselves.”

“Control your dreams to heal emotional trauma and find creative stimulation”