June 2026 · By Charlie · huxi Adventures · Thunder & Lightning
Sleepmaxxing is a word that exists now.
It refers to the practice of optimising one’s sleep through every available means — sleep trackers, weighted blankets, mouth tape, white noise machines, magnesium glycinate at a specific dose taken at a specific time, blackout curtains rated to a specific darkness level, a particular pillow arrangement, and a ‘wind-down routine’ that begins approximately three hours before you actually want to go to sleep.
I know this because I have, over the past eighteen months, acquired most of these things. I have the tracker. I have the blanket. I tried the mouth tape for two weeks and concluded that it was fine but that ‘fine’ was not worth the experience of waking up with tape on my face. I have the magnesium. I have developed opinions about blackout curtains that I did not previously expect to have.
My sleep, according to my tracker, is ‘fair.’ It has been fair for eight months. It was fair before the blanket. It was fair after the blanket. It is fair tonight.
There is one thing I added to my routine approximately five months ago that is not a sleep product, is not marketed as a sleep product, and which has more consistently moved my tracker from ‘fair’ to ‘good’ than anything else I have tried. I have written about it before. The connection to sleep is not something I invented — there is a cortisol reduction mechanism that is fairly well established — but it is not something the sleepmaxxing community discusses, presumably because it is harder to put in a morning routine content series.
The sleepmaxxing industry in numbers
The sleep tech market is forecast to grow at 14.4% annually until 2033 in the UK alone. One in three adults in the UK struggles to sleep, according to the NHS. The Sleep Charity estimates up to fourteen million adults may be experiencing sleep disorder symptoms.
Fourteen million people. The solutions being marketed to them include: infrared sauna blankets, contactless sleep trackers, smart mattresses that adjust firmness based on sleep stage, nasal dilators, and something called a ‘sleep divorce,’ which is when you and your partner sleep in separate rooms and is being reframed as a wellness practice rather than a relationship situation.
I do not have a smart mattress. I have a mattress. It does not adjust. It does not know what sleep stage I am in. It is, frankly, not paying enough attention.
I have spent approximately £340 on sleep optimisation products in the past eighteen months. I have spent £116 on Thunder & Lightning. The £116 has done more for my sleep than the £340. I am choosing not to do the maths on this more carefully.
What the cortisol research actually says
I have referenced the cortisol research in a previous post and I will reference it again because it continues to be correct. Cortisol is the stress hormone. Elevated evening cortisol delays sleep onset, reduces sleep quality, and increases the likelihood of waking at three am thinking about something you said in 2014.
The mechanisms by which cortisol is reduced include exercise, meditation, social connection, and orgasm. This last one is not whispered — it is in the literature, it is documented, and it involves a measurable reduction in cortisol combined with a significant release of oxytocin and prolactin, both of which are associated with relaxation and sleep onset.
My sleep tracker, on the nights following Thunder & Lightning use, consistently shows better deep sleep scores than on nights where I have done the magnesium and the wind-down routine without it. I am not publishing this as a clinical study. I am publishing it as a person who has tracked this for five months and noticed a pattern that I would be irresponsible not to mention.
The honest review of every sleep product I own
Weighted blanket: Fine. Probably does something. Cannot prove it.
Sleep tracker: Useful for noticing patterns. Less useful for actually changing them. Currently telling me I am ‘fair.’
Magnesium glycinate: I have taken it every night for four months. My sleep is the same as it was before. I continue to take it because stopping feels like giving up.
White noise machine: Works. Not exciting. Recommended.
Mouth tape: No.
Thunder & Lightning: Consistently moves my tracker from fair to good. Has a guaranteed outcome or your money back. Does not require me to have tape on my face.
I spent approximately £340 on the other things. Thunder & Lightning costs £116. I am not going to do the maths on this out loud but I have done the maths on this privately and the maths is uncomfortable.
If you are sleepmaxxing and it is working, continue. If you are sleepmaxxing and your tracker still says fair, consider whether there is a gap in your routine that is not being addressed by a smart mattress.
I had 7.5 hours of good sleep last Tuesday. I know why. I am choosing to leave it at that.
— Charlie
