Dr Sujay Kansagra spends enough time on social media to have opinions about even the most obscure sleep hacks. Often, said Kangsagra, who is a sleep physician at Duke Health, they were not backed by strong scientific evidence.

This was especially true for trends or techniques that promised instant results, he said. If you saw a video claiming that listening to soothing tapping sounds or pressing trigger points on your wrist, for example, could help you fall asleep in seconds, it was probably not true. Still, there were some sleep strategies that did draw from legitimate science, Kansagra said.