Relearning How to Sleep at A Swiss Spa

Mary Holland
·4 min read

Mathieu Richer Mamousse

When a member of the hotel team showed me around my sleep-optimized room at Switzerland's Chenot Palace Weggis, I got the sense I would not sleep very well at all. “You set the alarm for the morning and it will play for 20 minutes,” she explained, pointing to a panel on the wall. “Then you put on the eye mask and play this for another 20 minutes.” She gestured toward a smartphone on the other side of the bed that contained the app I would need. There was also a smart thermostat, which had to be set between 66 and 68 degrees, bedsheets coated with infrared-emitting minerals, and temperature-regulating pajamas. I was tired, jet-lagged, and in no shape to comprehend the complicated contraptions that were meant to help me do what's supposed to be the most natural thing in the world.

While consistently getting enough shut-eye seems like it should be easy enough to achieve, it's not. More than one third of adults sleep fewer than seven hours per night (below the recommended minimum), and between 50 and 70 million Americans have sleep disorders. I myself am perpetually tired and consistently wake at 3 a.m. With so many people struggling to slumber, and growing research linking sleep deficiency with obesity and heightened cancer risk, it's no wonder that the global market for sleep aids reached nearly $64 billion in 2023. Nor is it a surprise that hotels have begun offering a variety of tools to help guests get better rest. Six Senses' Sleep with Six Senses program includes pillow menus and sleep tracking, which monitors movements and oxygen levels; the Penthouse Suite at Equinox Hotel New York blocks out sound and light pollution.

More comprehensive is the new Sleep Cycles offering I'd come to Chenot Palace Weggis to experience. Its goal is to reset guests' circadian rhythms, which for many of us are totally off-kilter thanks to various factors, including artificial light from our screens. “It's designed to fine-tune your internal clock,” said George Gaitanos, chief operating and scientific officer of the Chenot Group. Gaitanos, a metabolic specialist and acupuncturist, is versed in Western and Eastern medicine, both of which informed Sleep Cycles. “We're trying to build a lot of adenosine [a molecule that slows down neuron activity] in the body, because the greater the adenosine in the brain, the greater the pressure to sleep,” he explained. Putting the body through moderate physical stress and mild sleep deprivation makes successful sleep more likely.

<h1 class="title">Man reclining</h1><cite class="credit">Getty</cite>

Man reclining

Getty

When I arrived at Chenot, I was informed that the purpose of Sleep Cycles is not to cure insomnia. “We try to synchronize your circadian rhythm with the day,” said Gaitanos. This happens through daily treatments meant to have a lasting impact. Your day begins when you wake each morning in your Sleep Room, swathed in FDA-approved Nanobionic bed linens that contain minerals activated by body heat. The sound of birdsong drifts from a speaker for 20 minutes, while lights that mimic natural rays flash from a panel on the ceiling. This is followed by another 20 minutes of neuroacoustic sound therapy, during which you put on headphones and stream calming sounds from an app. I found the idea of lounging in bed for so long sans coffee deeply anxiety-inducing, but Gaitanos assured me that the acoustic environment cuts off disruptive (i.e., low and high) frequencies, which in turn helps us to sleep better later on. Next came a trip to the spa for a few treatments: first, cryotherapy—I did three minutes at minus 166 degrees inside a chamber—followed by a mud wrap and then light therapy.

After a few days of swishing through Chenot's hallways in a bathrobe, bouncing from detoxing baths to energetic massages and acupuncture, I had the confidence to skip my nightly sleep medication. The next morning I woke up at 5 a.m., but, to my relief, I felt rested. I had slept through the night. Yet I had to wonder how sustainable all this was. Is it worth traveling somewhere to reset and fix your circadian rhythm only to potentially mess it up again on your flight home? Who has a cryotherapy chamber and a specialized ceiling panel in their house? “What we're trying to do is kick-start you into creating habits,” Gaitanos said. Many of Chenot's treatments and technologies can't be replicated, but there are substitutes for some—like the ceiling panel: “Wake up, open your curtains, absorb the sunlight,” Gaitanos said. And there are ample ways to improvise. When an unlikely snowstorm dumped two feet of snow outside Chenot, I turned to nature for my afternoon cold fix and took a dip in the ice-covered lake. While I can't pack the Nanobionic linens in my carry-on (though guests can purchase them), I can travel with the pajamas and stream the neuroacoustic app from my phone. When I told Gaitanos my sleeplessness is likely linked to stress, because I wake with swirling thoughts in the wee hours of the morning, he suggested an easy solution: Grab a pen and piece of paper before going to bed and write down what's worrying you.

Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler

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