The Price of a Quiet Mind: The Global Sleep Economy, Mental Health, and the Divide in Slumber
Authors
Department of Business Studies, Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies, Management and Science University (MSU), University Drive, Off Persiaran Olahraga, Section 13,40100 Shah Alam, Selangor (Malaysia)
Department of Management and Law, Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies, Management and Science University (MSU), University Drive, Off Persiaran Olahraga, Section 13,40100 Shah Alam, Selangor (Malaysia)
Department of Business Studies, Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies, Management and Science University (MSU), University Drive, Off Persiaran Olahraga, Section 13,40100 Shah Alam, Selangor (Malaysia)
Department of Management and Law, Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies, Management and Science University (MSU), University Drive, Off Persiaran Olahraga, Section 13,40100 Shah Alam, Selangor (Malaysia)
Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra (Malaysia)
Fakultas Bisnis dan Manajemen, Universitas Muhammidayah Riau (Indonesia)
Article Information
DOI: 10.51244/IJRSI.2026.1309000072
Subject Category: Marketing
Volume/Issue: 13/9 | Page No: 1071-1076
Publication Timeline
Submitted: 2026-08-02
Accepted: 2026-08-07
Published: 2026-10-06
Abstract
The global sleep economy comprising devices, apps, nutraceuticals, sleep tourism, and digital therapeutics has become deeply intertwined with the pursuit of mental well-being, offering a market-based response to the transdiagnostic role of sleep disturbance in psychological distress. This conceptual review extends existing analyses of the sleep-mental health convergence by situating consumption patterns and therapeutic claims within divergent economic and cultural contexts. It examines how the sleep economy manifests across developed nations, emerging economies with a detailed focus on Malaysia, and low-income developing countries, revealing a triple-tracked landscape. In advanced economies, the quantified self and digital cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) dominate, yet generate novel anxieties such as orthosomnia. Emerging economies like Malaysia, India, and China are characterized by rapid technological adoption alongside the persistence of herbal and spiritual remedies, a hybridity shaped by rising lifestyle-related insomnia, a growing middle-class wellness consciousness, and culturally embedded holistic health paradigms. Meanwhile, in low-income developing nations, the formal sleep economy is largely absent; sleep remains a neglected public health concern, addressed through traditional healers and over-the-counter sedatives, with mental health implications that are profoundly undermanaged. The paper identifies three cross-cutting tensions medicalization versus consumerization, evidence versus market claims, and inequality and demonstrates how these tensions manifest distinctly across each development tier. It concludes with a call for culturally situated, equity-oriented research and regulatory frameworks that can accommodate the sleep economy’s global expansion without deepening existing disparities or trivializing psychiatric illness.
Keywords
sleep economy, mental health, Malaysia, emerging economies, developing countries
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