The sleep industry is asleep at the wheel. For years, sleep products have relied on the same visual shorthand: lavender tones, serene bedrooms and women smiling peacefully in bed. Sudeyko believes the industry often glosses over the reality of sleeplessness. Struggling to sleep, she says, isn't peaceful or smile-inducing—it's frustrating, exhausting and leaves people walking through the day feeling like zombies.
Sleep banking is essentially extending your normal sleep hours in the nights leading up to a known period of sleep deprivation. On the face of it, it appears unlikely banking sleep could counter the decreased alertness and other cognitive decrements that we experience when deprived of sleep, or stop that strong sensation we get when our body wants sleep.