This article is part of a regular column from SUITCASE's Grace Lee exploring new wellness trends worth trying

My My friend wasn't the first to mention it. "REM is the new DnB," she joked, rolling her eyes over the number of sleep-honing tips shared in the previous week on her uni WhatsApp group (a forum where, she laments, all-night club tickets had historically topped the agenda). "Why's everyone so obsessed with sleep?"

Sleep rituals are in vogue - whether it's waking with circadian rhythm-hacking alarm clocks, app-tracking our sleep cycles or vigorously dousing bed linen with lavender mists - and our pathological preoccupation with them even has a new name: orthosomnia. Yet is it any wonder we're all a bit hung up on kip when the average person only gets a fraction of the hours we actually need for a good night's rest?

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The global sleep-health economy has grown by around £8billion in the last two years, so it's no surprise that sleep tourism is rapidly on the rise. Airlines have been leading the charge, with state-of-the-art lounge facilities such as Qantas' body clock-adjusting "light therapy" showers and British Airways' "zero gravity" capsule-style sleep pods offering soothing slumbers for travellers on a tight stopover.

And now hotels are waking up to the trend, with sleep technology including AI-equipped mattresses arriving in rooms across the world. In the Italian Dolomites, bedrooms at Hotel de Len are equipped with "sleep radiance panels" that reorganise natural ambient energy based on mechanical, light and temperature stimuli, while at Austria's Lanserhof Lans, sleep specialists tailor bespoke programmes for guests based on data gathered in an on-site mobile sleep laboratory.

Hotel de Len, Italian Dolomites

All exciting innovations, but the Luddite in me still wonders whether the solution to our tech-induced sleep problems is yet more tech.

Checking in: The Sleep Concierge at The Cadogan, London

"It's time to unplug your thoughts and leave them behind," Malminder Gill, The Cadogan's resident sleep concierge, whispers from a chair in the corner of my suite. A multi-award-winning therapist, Gill guides sleep-deprived guests through bespoke sleep hypnotherapy experiences at the Chelsea address. For my session, the lights are out and I'm lying sausage-like in bed, all swaddled and feeling distinctly like a child. Awkwardness aside, it's pretty relaxing.

"Imagine you're in a field, surrounded by beautiful autumn leaves," Gill continues. "Choose a leaf, then pick it up from the ground. The leaf that's now in your hand is your biggest obstruction in life. What is it?"

The Cadogan, left, and sleep concierge Malminder Gill

Startled by my own answer, I'm distracted and start to stir. Once the visualisation is over, I confess that I'd seen myself as the obstructing leaf and Gill is quick to soothe. "Don't worry, a lot of people end up seeing themselves. We're often our own worst enemies!"

Switching the bedside lamp on, she gently begins to ask about stress levels. "Yes, they are quite high," I mumble. Noting the link between stress and a lack of sleep, Gill suggests this might be why I find it hard to turn off my thoughts: "the link between stress and poor sleep is a vicious cycle. Lack of sleep increases stress. Stress releases cortisol and adrenaline, which in turn can make it hard to relax and fall asleep."

So how can hypnotherapy help? In lots of ways, apparently. Aside from generating a profoundly relaxed state, Gill suggests that her methods can help people identify underlying issues that might be feeding into heightened stress levels. She's also able to provide coping methods such as breathing exercises that can alter negative thought patterns before bed.

Over the next hour, Gill goes on to ask about my menstrual cycle, diet and general day-to-day routine, offering nuggets of advice and suggesting small changes that could all contribute to better shut-eye, from building a sleep schedule that works in harmony with my monthly cycle, to sequencing meals in order to aid digestion. This holistic approach, coupled with her meditative energy, leaves me feeling seen in ways I hadn't expected. By the end of our session I've got a new sense of clarity - not just on my relationship with sleep, but on my relationship with myself, too. That night, imbued with renewed confidence in my ability to switch off, I charge theatrically into bed and sleep like a baby. And there's no sleep-tracking gadget in sight.

Lights out: three ways to get a better night's sleep