Home Best Side Hustle Ideas Get Paid to Sleep: 11 Side Hustles for Sleeping Beauties
July 17, 2023
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RarelyIf, like many people, you feel like you’re chronically short on shut-eye, getting paid to sleep might sound like the perfect job. Believe it or not, it’s more than just a dream (no pun intended).
There are many ways you can get paid to sleep (or at least get paid while you’re sleeping), from taking surveys about your sleep quality to testing sleep-related products.
In this article, we’ll explore the 11 ways to make money from snoozing. Read on to learn more.
You can get paid to help other people sleep, test sleeping products, or participate in research
Check out these 3 jobs that will pay you to sleep:
A sleep coach, also referred to as a sleep consultant, is someone who helps others improve their sleep quality and deal with sleep-related issues. Many sleep coaches specialize in working with young children and babies, but they can also work with teenagers and adults.
Sleep coaches provide advice and education to improve their clients’ rest. They’ll usually start by finding out their clients’ bedtime habits, sleep patterns, and medical history, then use this information to come up with a personalized plan.
Sleep coaches need to thoroughly understand the sleep techniques that they recommend. To do this, they need firsthand experience, which means prioritizing their own sleep and practicing healthy sleep habits.
Pay: Online sources suggest sleep consultants make $40–$50 per hour.
Sleep coaching can be done on a freelance basis and you don’t need any formal qualifications to get into it, so this is a good side hustle for anyone with a serious interest in sleep quality. What’s more, sleep coaches also often run their businesses online, which means you can work anywhere and you don’t need to commute.
That said, you do need to build up a fair amount of expertise (and a base of clients who trust you) to do this, so it isn’t a casual side hustle that you can get into on a whim. If you pick up this type of work, be prepared to commit.
Many businesses that sell sleep-related products want people to test their effectiveness, comfort, and quality. People who do this are sometimes called “sleep executives.”
Sleep executives test products such as:
With the information that companies get from sleep executives, they can improve the design and functionality of their products and create better sleep environments.
As a sleep executive, you’ll usually have to sleep for a certain number of hours per night (often 8), then write about how you slept (e.g., in a journal or on social media). You may have to wear a device (a sleep tracker or a smartwatch) to monitor your sleep patterns.
You might also have to control your sleeping conditions (by adjusting the temperature, airflow, noise levels, or other factors) to find out how these affect your sleep quality.
To find jobs testing sleep-related products, it’s worth checking general-purpose job boards, such as Indeed, but there are also several websites specifically dedicated to this side hustle. For example, Each Night and Sleep Junkie have both recruited mattress testers in the past.
Pay: There’s not much information available about how much sleep executives earn. Some sources cite rates of around $130–$140 per day.
Testing sleep products doesn’t require searching for clients or marketing yourself, so it’s a great side hustle for anyone who wants something relatively low-stress. As an added perk, you get to try new products which you might actually like.
Many different organizations conduct sleep-related studies—hospitals, clinics, universities, and research institutes, to name a few. These studies explore various aspects of sleep, such as its impact on health and well-being, or test potential medical interventions for sleep disorders.
If you want to get involved in this kind of research, look into:
Pay: Sleep study participants make an average of $35 per hour.
This is another good side hustle for people who are looking for something casual, not a gig that they hope to eventually spin into a new career. You don’t need any expertise to participate in research, and you can usually do it on a short-term or freelance basis, so it will fit in well around your other commitments. It probably won’t be overly demanding, either.
There are a lot of accessible jobs that involve staying (and sleeping) somewhere overnight
These jobs aren’t necessarily focused on sleep, but you’ll usually be able to sleep during working hours:
A mystery hotel guest (or hotel mystery shopper) is someone who visits a hotel anonymously and evaluates their experience.
As a mystery guest, sleeping will only be part of your job—you’ll also have to evaluate other aspects of staying at the hotel, such as the dining facilities, the cleanliness of the rooms, the performance of staff, and more. Still, a good portion of each gig will be spent sleeping.
Becoming a mystery hotel guest requires essentially the same steps as becoming a mystery shopper. Many mystery shopping companies offer hotel evaluation assignments. Examples include:
Pay: The hourly rate for a hotel mystery shopper is around $13–$20 in the US.
Mystery shopping doesn’t require any kind of licensure or certification, and it’s easy to fit around other commitments, since you can take on as many or as few assignments as you like. This makes it a very flexible side hustle for many people, although it might be tough if you have kids or pets who need constant looking-after—you do have to be able to spend nights away from home.
Travel bloggers often stay in hotels, hostels, bed-and-breakfasts, or resorts. They then write about their experiences in these places and publish their thoughts online (often in written form, although some vloggers also record videos).
Similar to hotel mystery shoppers, travel bloggers will often evaluate the rooms, the food, and the customer service—and, of course, whether they got a good night’s sleep.
There are a lot of ways to make money blogging if you have a decent following. For example, you can use affiliate marketing or insert Google Ads into your content. Popular travel bloggers can also sometimes negotiate free or discounted accommodation in exchange for featuring a property on their blog or social media.
Pay: The money you can make with blogging is entirely dependent on how popular your content is. In the beginning when you’re still establishing yourself, you probably won’t make very much at all, but if your blog takes off, you can earn hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month.
Travel blogging is a great side hustle for anyone who enjoys traveling during their weekends and holidays. However, it comes with the caveat that you need to be a good writer with something interesting to say, and you’ll need a lot of patience.
Blogging is a competitive space, and it may take a very long time for your blog to become popular enough to provide a second income (even if you’re talented).
A babysitter is someone who looks after children when their parents or guardians aren’t around.
As a babysitter, you obviously have to be awake some of the time. However, once the children have gone to bed, you may be able to get some shut-eye (although you’ll want to confirm this with their guardians first)
The most obvious way to become a babysitter is by leaning on word of mouth. Try telling friends, family members, neighbors, and colleagues that you’re available. They may know someone who needs a trustworthy person to watch their kids.
There are also online platforms where you can find babysitting gigs, such as:
Pay: The average rate for babysitters is around $18 per hour in the US.
Babysitting is another flexible side hustle, although it’s obviously best for people who like children. If you don’t, you might find it more tiring than restful, despite the opportunity to sleep.
It’s easy to fit babysitting around a job with normal office hours (or around academic studies, making this a popular side hustle for college students). You can do babysitting gigs as frequently or as infrequently as you like.
A pet sitter has similar responsibilities to a babysitter. They have to look after animals when their owners are away on vacation or too busy to care for them.
Pet sitters usually have to feed, exercise, and play with the pets they’re looking after, as well as ensure their safety and well-being. They may also need to clean up after them and tell the owners about any issues (e.g., if an animal gets sick or injured).
Many pet-sitting gigs involve overnight care. In most cases, you won’t be expected to sit up all night with the animals, which means you can get paid for the time you spend sleeping. As a bonus, you might get to have a furry friend to cuddle up with while you sleep (if you’re the sort of person who doesn’t mind having animals in their bed).
As with babysitting, word of mouth is a good way to get pet-sitting jobs, but there are also dozens of pet-sitting apps that you can use to find work in this space.
Pay: Pet sitters usually make between $12–$19 per hour.
Pet-sitting has many of the same advantages of babysitting. It’s flexible and low-commitment; you can pick up gigs whenever you want. Needless to say, this is only a good side hustle if you’re comfortable around animals.
House sitting involves looking after a property while the owners are away. In addition to just keeping an eye on the place, it can include things like collecting mail, locking up, performing basic maintenance tasks, and taking care of plants. Sometimes it also includes babysitting or pet-sitting duties.
House sitting is a wonderful side hustle to combine with sleeping, as there aren’t usually too many tasks to do. That means there’s plenty of time to catch some Zs.
You can find house-sitting jobs on TrustedHousesitters or HouseSitter.com. Needless to say, you should lean on your personal network as well.
Pay: House sitters often make around $15–$20 per hour.
As with the other “sitting” side hustles we’ve talked about, house sitting is flexible and easy to get into. The only caveat is that this is another side hustle that requires leaving home for hours or days at a time, so it can be tricky if you have kids or pets of your own to look after.
A line sitter is someone who stands in a line or queue on someone else’s behalf. The point is to make sure the person they’re representing doesn’t lose their place.
People sometimes hire line sitters for events that are greatly in demand, such as ticket sales, product releases, or the openings of popular attractions. In some cases, line sitters have to wait overnight to secure a coveted spot. During these long waits, they may be able to fall asleep—albeit in a potentially strange or uncomfortable place.
To find opportunities, check out Spotblaze and InLine4You, which are apps to connect people who need line sitters with people offering this service.
Pay: Like house sitters, line sitters can expect to make around $17 per hour.
Line sitting is accessible to everyone. That said, it can be more tiring than the other, similar side hustles we’ve mentioned. (Again, while you can sleep in line, you might have to do it outdoors!)
Line sitting definitely isn’t right for everybody. It might hold more appeal if you’re particularly energetic or have a high tolerance for discomfort.
Overnight caregivers do exactly what you’d expect—they care for people who can’t be left alone during the night. For example, they might take care of the elderly, disabled people, or those recovering from illness or surgery.
As part of their job, overnight caregivers have to be on call for the individuals under their care. This means they have to spend the night, which in turn means they effectively get paid for sleeping. They aren’t usually expected to stay awake for the entire night, although they do have to be prepared to wake up and jump into action the moment they’re needed.
If you want to find work as an overnight caregiver, there are many agencies that recruit for these kinds of roles. Examples include:
You can also try Care.com, which might have opportunities in your area.
Note that you might need certain certifications and experience to become a paid caregiver. The specific requirements will depend on your employer. For example, they might ask for relevant experience or certifications, or they might expect you to get basic first aid and CPR training.
Pay: Unfortunately, paid caregivers don’t make very much money. Their average salary is around $15 per hour. That’s certainly not nothing, but it isn’t as high as you might hope given the high-responsibility nature of the job.
You need a patient disposition to succeed as an overnight caregiver, and it might not be the best option if your primary job is already very tiring, as care work can be very demanding—physically and emotionally.
A security guard is someone who protects people or property from risks like theft, vandalism, trespassing, and violence. Wherever they work, security guards have to make sure the premises are protected and deal with any security breaches.
The duties of a security guard often involve patrolling, monitoring premises with cameras and alarm systems, and issuing visitor passes. However, much of the time, night shifts are quieter than day shifts, and there’s less to do.
This means that sometimes—although by no means all of the time—security guards working the night shift are permitted to sleep. That depends on the company and on other factors like whether you’re the only person on duty.
To find work, try reaching out to security companies (e.g., G4S or Securitas), many of whom hire security guards for night shifts. You can also check the websites of large corporations or organizations that hire in your area; these often have their own security teams and sometimes advertise job openings on their career pages.
Pay: Security guards make an average of $20 per hour in the US.
Working as a night shift security guard can be a good side hustle, but it’s less suitable for gig work than some of the other jobs we’ve mentioned on this list.
For one, you’re likely to need training before you can start work, and most companies won’t be interested in hiring security guards on a short-term or temporary basis, as this isn’t as safe as having a dedicated team of vetted regulars.
It’s also more difficult to fit night shifts around a normal 9-to-5 job; a day in the office followed by a night shift can be extremely tiring, even if you get to sleep. In general, working night shifts tends to put stress on the body, so it’s important to consider your health and well-being before taking on this kind of side hustle.
