Vacation goals: sleep, sleep and more sleep.
Is a hotel stay the secret to your best night’s sleep?
AS A LIFELONG non-napper and a sworn tosser-and-turner, I’ve always envied people who can fall asleep anytime, anywhere. It’s the worst on red-eye flights— when I’m the only one in my row watching bad romcoms—or when I’m overwhelmed at work and the stress of a deadline ends up with me ogling Dior Saddle bags on Instagram at 3 a.m. I never considered this to be a problem; between my friends with newborns and the workaholics who wear their fourhours-a-night average like a badge of honour, most of the women I know consider a solid night’s sleep a luxury. But with more and more research linking our lack of shut-eye to an increased risk of developing conditions like diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s, sleep isn’t something to take lightly. Especially because, according to Statistics Canada, one-third of us still aren’t getting enough zees—despite all the apps and advice out there. That’s why I found myself trying the new sleep-therapy package at Nita Lake Lodge in Whistler, B.C. The luxury lakeside retreat has always been a wellness destination, but this new offering aims to tackle an area of health that has long been overlooked, at least in the hotel biz. Nita Lake is not the only hotel banking on our crummy sleep habits. The Six Senses group recently launched a Sleep with Six Senses program that pairs guests with a “sleep ambassador”—kind of like a therapist for your REM sleep. Other hotels, like the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz in Switzerland and celeb go-to Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Ariz., go a step further, monitoring guests’ sleep with polysomnography, a test that is used to diagnose sleep disorders. The results are incorporated into take-home treatments. What ever happened to riotous all-inclusives and drinking and eating your way through Italy, you ask? Blame the wellness movement. “Today, many people like to go on vacation as a way to get healthier,” says Dr. Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist with a specialty in sleep disorders, who helped design the Six Senses program. “You can’t get healthier without good-quality sleep.” While these hotels can’t promise to cure insomnia, experts like Dr. Cindy Geyer, medical director at Canyon Ranch, say they do teach one of the most beneficial tools for improving sleep: how to self-soothe—that is, unwinding by using bedtime rituals instead
of turning up the “Will I or won’t I sleep?” anxiety dial. Good sleep hygiene should include ambience, say the experts, which these programs have on lock. Rooms overflow with amenities like aromatherapy sprays, pillow menus for cherry-picking your ideal neck support (too hard! too soft! just right!) and even sleep tutorials, all designed to encourage guests to put down their blue-lightemitting phones and be more mindful of pre-bed downtime. Even for a midnight worrier like me, self-soothing was easier at Nita Lake thanks to the holistic perks, like calming kundalini massage, lavender bubble bath and a pine-oil-infused pillow. (The smell of pine has been linked to decreased stress.) While it might be that the pillow was just a pleasant placebo, I slept better than I had in months while I was there so I’ve been spooning it ever since. Changing up my activities also helped. I spent my days in Whistler zip-lining through the treetops and skiing. It was way more fresh air and exercise than I’m used to, both of which have been proven to help sleep. And, unlike my typical vacation MO, I dialed back on the booze. Alcohol is optional at Nita Lake, but many sleep programs don’t allow you to indulge because of its effect on REM sleep. Of course, there’s the reality that while on vacation, we are more unplugged, making it easier for hotels to market a good night’s sleep. And these programs don’t necessarily address the root causes of sleeplessness: the pressure to feel plugged in, the anxiety about the state of the world and the excruciating reality of true insomnia. (If you know, you know.) But the fact that we’re making sleep a part of the wellness conversation is a good thing. And if it takes a hotel stay with massages, a bed as soft as a marshmallow and someone to talk to about what may be causing our restless nights, I’m all in.