India and the art of rest: Holidays for the sleep deprived

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On-call hypnotherapists. AI-assisted beds. Smart goggles that use heat, massage and vibration to lower the heart rate. Bedtime tea blends. Electro magnetic and infrared therapy. Sequestered guest rooms — with one in London even housed inside a three-storey stainless steel sculpture, to promote meditative stillness. These are just some of the things travellers are signing up for on holiday. All for one simple reason: to sleep.

There’s been a big shift from the earlier standard of a vacation, where catching Zzzs was the most boring thing you could possibly do. Now, sleep tourism is the year’s hottest travel trend. It’s no surprise — India (and the world) is tired. According to a 2025 survey by LocalCircles, a citizen engagement platform, ahead of World Sleep Day (March 14), nearly 60% of Indians sleep for less than six hours daily. For many, even those precious few hours are not uninterrupted. This is cause for concern when studies link poor sleep to mental health issues, including depression and anxiety. It could explain why ‘napcations’ are getting popular as a concept and why holiday programmes are being designed to improve health and well-being through curated sleep experiences.

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‘Why am I so tired all the time?’

“The growth of sleep tourism can be attributed to rising stress levels and a growing recognition of sleep’s crucial role in maintaining health. Individuals are now actively looking for ways to prioritise rest,” says Rajesh Srinivas, general manager at Swastik Luxury Wellbeing Sanctuary. Opened last November, this wellness retreat in Khadakwasla on the outskirts of Pune has made sleep tourism one of its major calling cards with a programme called ‘The art of restorative sleep’.

“Designed to help individuals combat sleep disorders, it includes personalised sleep assessments, mind-body practices like yoga nidra and meditation, customised dietary plans [with L-tryptophan-rich foods that boost serotonin production, such as legumes], alongside modern therapies, including sound baths,” says Srinivas, who ensures guests leave adequately equipped to maintain this sleep hygiene back at home. “We suggest ways for them to set up a sleep-conducive environment, be it via lighting, audio-visual aids and even recipes for pre-sleep elixirs like kaadhas.”

Rajesh Srinivas

Sayali Sancheti, 37, has been battling insomnia for a while. The Pune resident recently underwent the five-day sleep therapy programme at Swastik. One that she says has made a difference. “I had read a lot about the body’s circadian rhythm, and thought of addressing it for a more long-term solution for my insomnia,” she says. “The mind-sound resonance technique, aerial yoga, and diet have all worked in my favour.”

Back home, the branding specialist has incorporated a lot of what she learnt on holiday, such as going to sleep while focusing on her breathing. “While the information is available online, seeing it doled out in a practical, problem-solving way made all the difference,” she says, adding that she does miss Swastik’s unique ‘tuck-in’ routine — where an attendant administered a mini foot massage and anointed her temples and forehead with sleep-inducing lavender oil.

Swastik Luxury Wellbeing Sanctuary | Photo Credit: Hemant Patil

Another Pune resident, Natasha Sharma, 45, doesn’t have a problem getting sleep but is still considering a sleep holiday. The writer and novelist finds it tough to get back to sleep if interrupted during the night. “Ever since becoming a mum, I’ve noticed that I’m quick to snap out of a deep sleep with the slightest of disturbances. It could be my daughter’s voice or even a whimper from my dog,” says Sharma. “I feel that an itinerary-bereft, pure sleep vacation, where I’m on my own and equipped with the techniques to fall back into a deep sleep is something I desperately need. [I’ll pick a place depending on] the bundled-up activities related to sleep on offer, and what they have when one is not sleeping. A nice pool, perhaps!”

Natasha Sharma

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The situationship of conscious uncoupling

Unsurprisingly, sleep, or in this case, the lack thereof, is having a major impact on interpersonal relationships. Although they have been married for seven years, the proverbial ‘itch’ for Mumbai couple Mina and Louis Noronha (names changed on request) had begun to fester just a few months into living together. Unable to bear her husband’s snoring, which has since been diagnosed as clinical sleep apnea, brought on by his borderline obesity, Mina has made a spare bedroom her refuge. A “sleep sanctuary”, as the 34-year-old management consultant calls it.

Louis, a 37-year-old fintech specialist, is trying to get a handle on his problem through intensive sleep therapy sessions that include light therapy to regulate his circadian rhythm, and cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. He says this, coupled with medication (according to IKEA’s Sleep Report 2025, 37% of Indians use sleep medication — the highest in the world) and personalised sleep vacations, is helping him cope.

Sleep therapy sessions (representative photo) | Photo Credit: Courtesy SAANS

So far, he’s been on four sleep vacations; his first at a wellness retreat in Austria in 2019 and three in India. With a less intense approach in comparison to his sleep therapy sessions, these napcations have helped him learn to maintain a consistent sleep schedule and establish a relaxing bedtime routine, such as listening to soothing sounds on his sound machine.

There is now a term for this rather unconventional but effective conjugal compromise. A sleep divorce. Where couples or partners sleep in different rooms or in different beds, or go on sleep-oriented vacations separately. (A 2025 Global Sleep Survey by ResMed, a medical equipment company, found 78% of couples in India have adopted the practice at some time.)

Minnu Bhonsle, a consulting psychotherapist at Mumbai’s Heart to Heart Counselling Centre, however is optimistic of its efficacy — despite any social stigma it might attract. “If the overall health of the relationship is good, then there is nothing wrong with sleeping in separate rooms or seeking out a tailor-made sleep vacation independent of a partner,” she says. “I very often recommend this seemingly simple solution to an otherwise impossible situation that can be detrimental to a marriage or romantic partnership.”

But it’s not always just lack of sleep that’s pushing married people to consider a sleep vacation. For Chennai-based HR professional Averyl D’sa-Saldanha, 46, it is work stress. “I’d really like to explore the possibility of spending a few days in a stress-free environment where the focus is on me and what my body and mind is craving. Rest!” she says. D’sa-Saldanh is thinking of nearby places in South India such as Coorg for her debut solo tryst with a napcation.

Averyl D’sa-Saldanha

“Sleep is both qualitative and quantitative. Inculcating good sleeping habits that we now term as sleep hygiene is very crucial. “This entails blocking out blue light from one’s phones which doesn’t allow melatonin [a sleep hormone produced by the pineal gland in response to darkness] to release, taking a warm bath before bedtime, aromatherapy with sleep-inducing lavender oil, and breathing exercises.”Dr. Partha Pratim BoseSenior consultant pulmonologist and founder of the SAANS Foundation for Sleep

Staycations turn snoozecations

Taking a slightly different approach, and promoting sleep as a shared “we” activity are a number of properties across the country. Ever since it opened its gates in India in 2021, the Six Senses Fort Barwara resort in Rajasthan has been aligning with the brand’s decade-old ‘Sleep with Six Senses’ global programme. The comprehensive package (for stays of three, five or seven nights) encompasses everything from personalised sleep assessments and yoga therapies to a nifty sleep kit with essential oils and sleep balms. “We offer personalised tips based on sleep data to help guests improve sleep quality,” says Mark Sands, vice president of wellness, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas. “We also offer sleep-enhancing touches, including sound healing, and magnesium-rich foods, and teas [potassium and magnesium rich dried banana peel tea is a favourite recipe].”

Mark Sands | Photo Credit: Chumpol Chaikanarakkul

Of course, as The New York Times stated recently, sleep tourism can be called an old dog with new tricks. Before the trend got a name, hotels were offering pillow menus, blackout curtains, and white noise machines for staycationers. Today, they are upping the game with tech such as Therabody SmartGoggles (which uses heat and vibration to lower heart rate), sensory deprivation tanks, and Brain Gauge Pro (a program that tests cognitive performance and monitors brain conditions to offer customised sleep solutions).

The Westin Hotels and Resorts, one of the first hotel chains to introduce a sleep programme in India, for instance has its Heavenly Bed. Launched in 1999 with temperature regulating gel-infused memory foam, since upgraded with an A.I.-assisted, smartphone-pairable mattress with an active pressure-relief system that adjusts as you move to optimise deep sleep, it has a loyal following. Building on it, last month, the hospitality brand held ‘The 90-Hour Rest Week’ contest — a nationwide search for the person most deserving of rest — offering them a three-night wellness retreat at a Westin hotel in India.

The Westin’s Heavenly Bed

Ayurveda is also at the forefront of many sleep programmes. Think Ananda in the Himalayas in Uttarakhand, Blue Hill Lotus Holistic Wellness Village in Tamil Nadu, and Atmantan Wellness Retreat in Maharashtra, which prioritise yoga, pranayama and meditation.

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A hit or a miss?

Kumaar Bagrodia is a neuroscientist and founder of NeuroLeap. The eight-year-old Mumbai-based company offers advanced neurotechnology-based brain assessment and improvement. Post COVID-19, Bagrodia says he’s seen an increase in issues such as anxiety and brain fog. “[Lack of] sleep is one of the most visible symptoms. In fact, in India, there’s been a rise in [the use of] prescription drugs for these issues.”

So, are travel companies on the right path with sleep tourism? Can napcations be effective in the long run? “I believe sleep is one of the many facets of why people go to such places.” Bagrodia believes it is naive to assume that somebody will spend lakhs of rupees to go somewhere just to sleep. “I think it is all the factors that lead up to it [sleep]: the environment, the experience, your routine, the food, and the amount of meditation, yoga or physical therapies that you will have access to, among other aids [at such sleep programmes].”

The Mumbai-based writer is passionate about food, travel and luxury, not necessarily in that order.