'Sleep streams' can make you Richie Rich — but are they worth struggle?

Sleep streamers, who broadcast live footage of themselves under the covers on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch, have been making a significant profit, but at the same time struggle with issues related to their mental health and well-being.

Famous Twitch streamer, Kai Cenat, who was recently charged with inciting a US riot, made tens of thousands of dollars sleeping during a non-stop month-long stream in March.

Additionally, Amouranth, a well-known streamer, claimed she can make up to $15,000 from a sleep stream, as they have now become a trend which seems to provide viewers with a sense of community and entertainment, providing a platform for them to fall asleep with.

The idea, as bizarre as it may sound, has been around since the early 2000s when the reality show Big Brother, one of the world's most-watched shows, garnered massive online viewers on the show's accompanying 24-hour live streams as viewers enjoyed watching housemates sleeping through the night.

In addition, in 2004, the National Portrait Gallery unveiled an hour-long video of footballer David Beckham sleeping, the BBC reported.

Different forms of sleep streams have emerged in recent months, where viewers pay to keep streamers awake by triggering loud noises, alerts, flickering lights, or other disturbances.

These videos resemble live-action video games, where the streamer is trying to fall asleep, and the viewers are doing whatever they can to wake them up.

"Sleepfluencers" like Jakey Boehm and Stanley, famously known as, StanleyMov, have jumped on the latest trend to get paid to stay awake which, according to StanleyMov, has allowed him to make enough money to pay his rent.

Although this trend makes it quite easy to earn, StanleyMov shared the pain and struggle he and other streamers go through to satisfy the viewers' needs.

"Usually when I do sleep streams, it's to make YouTube videos and make content out of it afterwards, so for me getting zapped is basically just content for the YouTube channel," he told the BBC.

"I don't know if it's like our primal instincts, but some people really like seeing other people in pain or other people getting hurt, if that makes sense."

He also said that he is currently taking a break from this trend, despite the money he is able to make from it.

He said: "I'm taking a break from sleep streams because of mental health and burnout, I do it all myself — over the past three years, I have been recording and editing almost three videos a week... there is a lot of weight on my shoulders when it comes to my content.

"But it's because I want to do it my way. My brand is basically my joke, my humour, and that comes down to editing as well, I'm basically mentally editing the video while I'm streaming it," he added.

So is this fairly easy trend to make money worth the struggle?

Sleep expert Dr Lindsay Browning, author of the self-help book Navigating Sleeplessness, shared two different schools of thought, saying: "Science shows that regularly getting a good night's sleep every night has a humongous multitude of benefits.

"However, real life doesn't work like that. What about parents whose children get sick? There are 100 reasons that we don't get a good night's sleep.

"My job specifically is working with people who have insomnia, where they want to sleep but their brain won't let them, and part of curing insomnia is to dial down the fear factor that actually a night of poor sleep isn't the end of the world."

According to Browning, sleep streams were not a good idea on the surface, but "if you put that in the category of 'doing it once every two, three weeks to earn loads of money', then why not?"

The sense of community, besides electric shocks, may be what keeps people returning to streamers like Amouranth and Kai Cenat when they're sound asleep.

"People watch it for comfort," Stanley said. "They feel like they're not alone."