How to become a professional sleeper in 2024

Last updated on January 24th, 2024 at 07:05 am

When your alarm goes off, do you frequently click the snooze button five, ten, or twenty times? Do you find it difficult to establish a daily routine? Do you find it a struggle to get out of bed? Do you daydream about your bed throughout the course of the workday?

How about if we told you that you could earn a living by sleeping?

Although it might seem impossible, you can do it if you work as a professional sleeper.

Additionally, we’ll cover everything you need to know about this ideal job in this article, including what it takes, how much it pays, and where to look for chances.

1. Research the profession

You may want to stay in bed all day, but what you really need to know are the hours you’ll work, your pay, and the qualifications needed to perform the job.

A professional sleeper is, to put it simply, someone who is paid to sleep. They typically carry out this as part of scientific investigations into sleep patterns or assessments of the efficacy of various sleep-related items.

2. Consider the salary prospects

It is challenging to determine an average compensation because the scope and requirements of each job differ.

Nevertheless, in 2013, NASA paid volunteers $18,000 (£13,357) to lie in bed for 70 days, and a University of Colorado research offered up to $2,730 (£2,025) to participants who agreed to take part in a 14–17-hour sleep study.

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While this was going on, Travelodge, a network of low-cost hotels, hired Wayne Munnelly to fill their newly established Director of Sleep role. He was given the opportunity to earn £60,000 in exchange for staying in each of the chain’s 17,000 rooms and rating them for lighting, noise, cleanliness, and general comfort.

While the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City paid people $10 (£7.40) an hour to take sleeping drugs and sleep on a bed in the midst of the museum as part of a Chu Yun display, Roisin Madigan, a student from Manchester, was paid £1,000 to sleep in luxurious beds every day for a month.

3. Build on your niche

Professional sleepers can provide their services to a range of sectors, including industry, hospitality, and the medical and scientific research fields.

This means that your responsibilities may vary from one job to the next. For example, one week you might be analyzing hotel beds and sleeping conditions, and the next you might be a research subject in a lab having your sleeping habits monitored while under the influence of sleeping medications.

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As a result, this position may be inconsistent and ever-changing. To succeed in this field and establish oneself as a specialist, you should focus on a certain area, like mattress quality evaluation.

4. Weigh the pros and cons

As you are aware, any positive position also has a list of drawbacks. You should carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages of this professional route before deciding whether to pursue it. We’ve outlined the main pros and cons below to help you determine if this is the right job for you.

Pros include:

• Getting paid to sleep
• Learning more about your own sleeping patterns
• Receiving medical treatment for any detected problems
• Getting to stay in luxury hotels and enjoy five-star treatment as a mattress tester — for free

Cons

• Needing to make some lifestyle changes — for example, to participate in some studies, you won’t be allowed caffeine, alcohol or vitamins, or will be asked to drink or eat certain foods
• Affects on your typical sleeping patterns and the benefits of sleeping early
• Spending a long time indoors and possibly feeling out of touch with the outside world
• Spending long periods of time away from family and friends, depending on the gig
• Having no regular source of income and other benefits
• Having to wait up to a month to be allowed to participate in other tests

Also Read: How To Achieve Work-Life Balance While Working Remotely

5. Meet the requirements and criteria

Most of the time, no special training is required to work as a professional sleeper. For scientific research, you must, however, be at least 18 years old and fulfil a number of additional requirements.

You will typically need to be in good health and be willing to disclose your complete medical history, as well as, in certain situations, the medical history of your entire family. This will vary depending on the position.

Some studies (like those that test sleeping medicines) may need you to have a specific illness, like insomnia. Having a flexible work schedule is also necessary because tasks can happen at any hour of the day.

6. Land your first job

The process of getting your first employment as a sleep tester is more difficult than it is for other, more common careers.

You must keep an eye out for online advertisements. In order to be the first to know when positions for sleep testing become available, you might also set up a Google Alert.

Check out the following websites when looking for possibilities online:

• online job boards
• universities
• sleep clinics and institutes
• medical research centres
• bed and mattress manufacturers
• hotels

As an alternative, you might approach hotels and mattress manufacturers directly and offer your sleep testing services.

You might even start your own blog in the hopes that major corporations looking for qualified sleep testers will take notice of you.

Also Read: How to become a Pet Sitter (Guide & Salary)

7. Develop your career

There isn’t much room for job advancement in this field, but if you’re clever, you can increase your wealth by enrolling in highly lucrative courses.

Making oneself known to specific businesses, clinics, and research facilities as a professional sleeper is a smart way to accomplish this. This can assist you get referred to new potential employers who are seeking for professional sleepers in addition to getting recruited again for new jobs.

Also Read: How to become a freelance teacher

Professionally sleeping isn’t exactly the typical job path. However, if you have a natural talent for falling asleep, there is nothing stopping you from seizing the chance and filling the employment vacuum.

Even if you are unable to pursue it as a full-time profession, it can still be a great source of additional cash and an engaging recreational activity for you. Additionally, you’ll always sleep soundly!

Do you believe you possess the necessary skills to work as a professional sleeper? Comment below with your views on this entrancing performance.