The beauty of sleep tourism at Bliss & Stars

There were a few perplexed faces around the room, eyes wide with worry. One man, who’d flown from Durban to Cape Town and then driven for hours, seemed reluctant to stay.

“Did you say no alcohol?”

“Yes,” said Daria Rasmussen, who was introducing the four-day programme at Bliss & Stars, a retreat on a remote farm in the far north of the Cederberg. “And also nothing with caffeine.”

“Sorry, did you say no alcohol and no meat? Or is there a choice?” The man shot a harried look at his wife, who’d booked the retreat. She’d evidently withheld this vital information from him, fearing he would have refused to join her. Then again, even those who knew what to expect were unsettled by the reality of making do without a few “essential” vices.

The point, Rasmussen said, is to remove stimulants, particularly those that interfere with the body’s natural rhythms. Apart from alcohol and caffeine, we’d been asked to dispense with cellphones. We were also on a plant-based diet that included no refined sugars, and were given a schedule that included daily yoga, a long hike, after-dinner stargazing and plenty of free time to explore, swim in the river, laze by the pool and doze off. More than anything, sleep — long and deep and undisturbed — was encouraged.

According to Rasmussen — originally from Poland and a certified mindfulness teacher as well as a somatic therapist and a breathwork coach — most people suffer from overstimulation, which is a major impediment to effective sleep. Instead of listening to our bodies’ natural rhythms, we’re permanently wired by external sources. Whether we live for deadlines or chase bustling social calendars, we’re driven by outside forces, and too frequently rely on external stimuli to keep up.

By encouraging a kind of full-system “detox” — allowing guests to feel tired and to listen to their bodies when they crave rest — the retreat’s goal, in part, is to reset natural sleep cycles.

In its remote, raw, unencumbered setting, the retreat combines Scandi minimalist chic accommodations with wisdom collated from ancient practices, modern science and common sense.

The tranquillity and restfulness of the surroundings are second to none, and the underlying intention of being there is to escape the noise and chaos of modern life. “It’s a place to transcend,” Rasmussen tells the FM, “a place where inner and outer space meet.”

Bliss & Stars wasn’t established specifically to grapple with sleep deprivation, but when it opened in the aftermath of the pandemic, it offered precisely what anxious lockdown survivors craved — curated getaways designed to clear the head, heal the body and flip the master switch.

What it provides may well be at the root of recovery for overstimulated, sleep-deprived escapees from the modern world.

A new travel destination

Certainly, if you’re neglecting sleep, you suffer. According to recent research, a third of all adults experience some form of sleep deprivation. What’s known, but not fully understood, is that everything from dementia to weight gain can be linked to lack of sleep. Chronic sleep problems might also increase the likelihood of heart disease, obesity — even cancer. And while we don’t quite know precisely how sleep affects human health, we do know what causes diminished sleep: ceaseless distractions, too much tech, excess stimulation, plus anxiety, depression and endless worrying.

Enter the travel industry’s latest trend: sleep tourism. A study by research company HTF Market Intelligence has forecast that this bizarre-sounding niche will, between 2023 and 2028, have revenue growth of more than $400bn.

If the term “sleep tourism” makes your eyes roll, you’re not alone. For many, the notion of travelling to get some shut-eye runs counter to their understanding of travel — that it means squeezing in as much activity as possible.

But the zeitgeist has flipped.

Sleep is trending. It might not be the most Instagrammable travel activity, but TikTok has a whole culture of sleep flexing, #sleeptok. Gen Zs are apparently also Gen Zzzzs — woke but not necessarily awake. Reports suggest that this age cohort, more than any other, is driven by a desire for personal wellbeing, and that getting proper sleep is a priority when they travel.

And they’re not alone. Last October, the Hilton hotel group conducted a survey that found travellers in all age categories were prioritising “rest and recharge” as their motivation to travel in 2024 — with sleep their key priority. In April, a Skift Research survey reported that most travellers are willing to pay more for holidays and hotels with enhanced sleep amenities.

Which is why hotels are jumping on the bandwagon to monetise sleep. They’ve added science and a touch of woo-woo to their core business and aren’t afraid to charge for a wide variety of sleep-enhancing regimes. From pillow sprays and blackout blinds to in-room consultations with sleep doctors and AI-powered smart beds, hospitality purveyors have come a long way since Westin Hotels introduced the Heavenly Bed in 1999.

In 2020, Swedish luxury mattress maker Hästens created the Sleep Spa in Coimbra, Portugal, where you can bed down on some of the world’s dreamiest and most expensive mattresses. Suites at Spain’s SHA Wellness Clinic have Hogo mattresses — said to be good for everything from improving the immune system to promoting mental balance and enhancing cell regeneration. The spa hotel also offers polygraphic diagnoses of guests’ sleep activity, “psychophysiological sleep tests” and sessions with a “sleep medicine” consultant.

The Cadogan hotel in London has a dedicated “sleep concierge service”, co-designed by hypnotherapist and sleep expert Malminder Gill. Guests get Gill’s pre-recorded sleep-inducing meditation on an in-room app and can book her for one-on-one sessions.

New York’s Park Hyatt now has five suites with AI-powered smart mattresses that automatically adjust to the sleeper’s position and control the room climate and bed temperature. At the city’s Benjamin Royal, a Rest & Renew programme includes lullaby music, white noise machines and 10 pillow options.

Then there’s the offer of the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles of infrared technology, compression therapy and healing sound waves on an antigravity bed. One Miami resort has a room with infrared technology to “release electromagnetic frequencies stored in the body”, and the Six Senses chain of international luxury resorts has curated programmes with sleep meditations, sleep tracking, in-house sleep doctors and treatments. These promise to improve sleep patterns, reduce stress, establish a sustainable sleep routine and restore mood, memory and energy levels.

The celeb-baiting Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan has an hour-long “sacred nap”, during which you’re suspended from the bamboo ceiling in an aerial silk hammock while listening to nature and hearing Buddha’s life story narrated by wellness mentor Ibu Fera. And at Conrad Bali you can pay for Sway, a 60-minute sleep therapy session in a cocoon hammock.

The ultimate, though, might be New York’s Equinox Hotel, where the Equinox chain’s Art + Science of Sleep programme includes sleep-enhancing meals, meditations and melatonin-infused sleeping patches. The spa’s infrared sauna pods promote deep sleep by cutting cortisol levels and boosting blood flow. And there’s a magnesium IV drip, which is said to ensure an amazing night’s sleep — on a mattress made of horsehair and seaweed.

But are hemp and melatonin patches, sleep hypnosis and in-room sleep consultants really the way to go? When did something so fundamental to human existence evolve into such a complicated — and costly — endeavour? This conundrum might have you longing for the Cederberg and the straightforward task of simply sloughing off excess stimulation in order to tap into the body’s inherent wisdom and rediscover the guilt-free joy of nourishing sleep.

‘An endless blur of to-dos’

At Bliss & Stars, Rasmussen says it comes down to fixing misaligned priorities. “Our society tends to value constant activity and sees productivity as the measure of our worth. Immersed in an endless flow of activities with a relentless march towards deadlines, life becomes a blur of to-dos and we vanish behind schedules.” 

After years of being caught in the rat race herself, she says time in the remote Cederberg has made her realise that “there is a deep wisdom in learning to find comfort in doing nothing”.

“When the world feels overwhelming and we find ourselves caught between a rock and a hard place, the solution can be breathtakingly simple. As easy as taking deep breaths or getting a decent night’s sleep — and then another and another.” The goal, she adds, is to “find the courage to pause, embrace idleness and discover the sweetness that exists in the present moment”.

And if that means quitting coffee and booze for a while to tune into your body’s natural rhythm, where’s the harm?

* The writer was a guest of Bliss & Stars

The article originally appeared in Finacial Mail.