When you’ve been staring at the ceiling for three hours, you’ll do some dumb sh*t to fall asleep. The internet’s newest suggestion is to pour salt on a cookie sheet and stand on it barefoot like you’re crushing grapes.

It’s called salt stomping, and wellness creator Tammy Weatherhead helped push it into the sleep-hack conversation this year. The instructions are simple: spread Epsom salt or sea salt in a shallow tray, stand there for about 10 minutes before bed, then cross your fingers. The explanation floating around online borrows from grounding, the idea that direct contact with natural elements could help with stress or sleep.

Some research supports grounding, but evidence for its sleep claims is limited. One frequently cited 2004 study included only 12 people, all of whom slept on conductive mattress pads. There was no control group. Sleep physician Lulu Guo told Sleep Foundation, “Overall, scientific evidence that shows grounding improves sleep is limited.”

A Sleep Doctor Called This Bedtime Hack One of the ‘Most Absurd’ He’s Seen

Salt stomping takes another leap. Most grounding research involves bare skin touching the Earth or conductive equipment connected to the ground — a cookie sheet full of salt beside your bed has neither. Sleep physician W. Christopher Winter was less diplomatic when Women’s Health asked him about the trend. “At this point in my career, it is tied with putting a bar of soap under your mattress as the most absurd sleep tip,” he said.

Still, standing there for 10 minutes could help, even if it feels a little woo-woo to most. Research has found that repetitive rituals can reduce anxiety in some situations, and bedtime routines give your brain something predictable to do while you wind down. A few minutes of mindfulness of the sensations under your feet could also calm your brain so you’re not ruminating on random things. 

Standing barefoot on salt every night can also annoy your skin. Salt can dehydrate your skin, and the rougher crystals can scrape your feet. Cracked heels, eczema, or psoriasis probably won’t appreciate the experiment.

People with insomnia are an easy audience for this stuff because they’re desperate. Eventually, you’ll try almost anything once. Salt stomping gives you a little ritual before bed that might help you settle down. That’s about it. 

The post Can ‘Salt Stomping’ Really Help You Sleep? Here’s What Experts Say. appeared first on VICE.

As a night owl, I get the appeal of blowing past any suggested bedtime so you can work or play while everyone else sleeps. It’s great until you actually have to wake up the next day, pounding caffeine and supplements to fend off the violent brain fog you inflicted upon yourself. A new study found that night owl habits can ruin your mood the next day, and might go even further by sabotaging your entire career.

Published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine, a Finnish research project that ran for over a decade, tracking over 5,000 workers in that time to see how night owl-ism affected long-term employment, found that nocturnal folks end up on medical leave or early disability retirement at nearly double the rate of early birds who catch the worm.

This Common Sleep Pattern May Come With a Career Risk You Didn’t Expect

Tapio Räihä, the study’s lead researcher, says staying up late isn’t the villain here as much as the domino effect of living out of sync with the rest of society. Night owls consistently rack up worse lifestyle habits and higher stress levels, thanks to rapidly accumulating sleep debt as they struggle to survive in a corporate landscape built by people ready to tackle the day at the crack of dawn.

The solution here, if you’re a night owl, might be to find a job that offers more flexible hours, or to negotiate for them. You could also just, you know, get more sleep and try not to subsist solely on energy drinks and the pure sheer force of will required to keep your eyes open in the middle of the day.

The post Your Sleep Schedule May Be Costing You More Than a Rough Morning, New Study Finds appeared first on VICE.

I’ve tested the wearables, tracked the prices, and found the Prime Day deals worth grabbing.