Mattress company to hold sleep competition in Japan, winner stands to take home over S$18K

Mattress company in Japan holds sleep competition with S$18,000 prize

Getting paid to sleep might sound like a dream job, but a mattress company in Japan is turning it into an actual competition.

Koala Japan will hold “Mattrace by Koala” on 5 Oct in Tokyo, where participants will be judged on how well they can sleep over 90 minutes.

The person with the highest overall sleep score will walk away with 2.22 million yen (around S$18,300) in prize money. The figure is a play on “Zzz”, the sound commonly associated with snoring.

Since details of the event were announced, the unusual contest has also attracted plenty of attention online, with some commenters already joking about ways they could gain an advantage.

Contestants will have 90 minutes to get their best sleep

Rather than simply seeing who stays asleep the longest, contestants will wear sleep-tracking equipment while lying on Koala mattresses for 90 minutes.

Their sleep will then be assessed using several factors, including how deeply they sleep, how long they take to nod off, and how consistently they remain asleep.

These measurements will be combined into an event-specific sleep score developed under medical supervision, with the highest-scoring participant across all three races crowned the overall winner.

There are prizes beyond first place, too. Special awards include one for particularly deep sleep and another for contestants who display especially unusual or acrobatic sleeping positions.

Before each race, participants will also take part in sleep-focused warm-up exercises and receive randomly assigned items intended to affect their sleeping experience.

Then comes the less relaxing part: organisers have teased surprise “sleep disturbances” during the competition, without revealing what they will involve or when they will happen.

The event will be held at Share Green Minami Aoyama, with three races scheduled between noon and 7pm. Each race is expected to have around 20 participants, before an awards ceremony from 7.30pm to 8pm.

Entry is free, although applicants will be selected by ballot if there are more sign-ups than available places. Applications close at 11.59pm on 16 Sept, while the organisers also intend to make a small number of same-day slots available.

Netizens joke about gaming the sleep competition

Unsurprisingly, the prospect of winning millions of yen by taking a nap got people thinking about how they could maximise their chances.

One Instagram commenter joked about staying awake for several nights beforehand so they would fall asleep more easily during the contest, while another suggested turning to sleeping pills.

Unfortunately for anyone seriously considering either strategy, the organisers appear to have anticipated such attempts.

Participants must be at least 20 years old and are specifically barred from deliberately pulling an all-nighter or arriving excessively sleep-deprived to gain an advantage.

They also cannot take sleeping pills, sleep aids, or other substances intended to manipulate their sleep during the contest.

Anyone found breaking the conditions can be disqualified, even after the results have been announced.

Other participation requirements include not being intoxicated, being medically fit to take part, and agreeing to the collection of sleep data during the event.

Also read: Seminar on insomnia in Thailand proves effective as attendees fall asleep in droves during lecture