Get Paid to Sleep: Legit Ways to Earn Up to $1.5K/Nap

It’s impossible to earn money without putting in time and effort. But did you know that you can make big bucks while in slumber mode? While this might seem like a distant dream to most of us, some jobs will pay you sweet money just to doze off. Today we have listed the different options for wannabe sleepyheads to try out.

1. Sleep product tester

After a hectic day at work, we yearn for supreme comfort as we hit the bed. This is why bed and mattress companies try to deliver the best products which can keep us well nestled as we relieve our day’s stress. Sonno offers this opportunity in the USA searching for participants who would sleep on their mattresses for 100 nights. Olivia’s is a reputed concern specifically meant for UK ‘comfort connoisseurs’ who are paid £60 per hour to test different beds. Sleep Junkie is another mattress review company that hired a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ who can evaluate different mattresses over a tenure of two months. The candidate was offered $3000 to share the report findings including the comfort level and sleep quality of each mattress. These companies usually hire product testers for experimenting with their products like mattresses, eye masks, other sleep aid devices, blinds, and curtains, and compile their feedback. Most companies will require applicants to be proficient in written English. You might be required to sleep in different noise levels and light conditions.

Area of work: The bed and mattress testers gauge the quality of their products during their developmental phase. Your role will be to sleep for an agreed number of hours and document your sleep journey alongside comprehensive feedback on the process. You will be required to sleep under different conditions and light will be introduced at different intensity levels for testing the viability of products like blinds, curtains, and shutters. The job might require you to wear a sleep-monitoring device to understand the impact of different variables on your sleep.

Earning potential: A bed testing expert can earn approximately $40k/per year whereas part-time testers can earn up to $80/hour excluding incentives.

Websites to find work: Craigslist, Upwork, and Freelancer.com

2. Overnight caregiver for elderly

Caregiving fetches more money than usual babysitting. Care.com is a notable platform where you can enlist yourself for such jobs. If the person you are caring for can send quick alerts for their requests, then as a caregiver, you can sleep when the patient sleeps. Some other tasks you will be expected to perform are preparing snacks or meals, monitoring their medications, providing companionship, and performing light housekeeping.

Area of work: If you are looking for elderly patients, then your duties will include assisting them with daily tasks like dressing, eating, and bathing.

Earning potential: You can expect to earn around $18/hour provided you have adequate experience in caregiving.

Websites to find work: ZipRecruiter and Care.com

3. Stream commercials on your phone

Apps and websites like Swagbucks, InboxDollars, KashKick, and Fusion Cash reward users for watching advertisements on their phones. You need to be at least 13 years or above and be a smartphone user for using these platforms. Your smartphone can do the heavy work as you put it on mute and take a relaxing nap.

Area of work: Once you sign up, you can begin streaming the commercials while taking a nap.

Earning potential: $5-20 per month

Websites to find work: InboxDollars, Swagbucks, Fusion Cash, etc

4. Register for sleep research centers

Sleep centers like the Sleep Research Society and the Cleveland Sleep Research Center compensate professional nappers for their valuable time. Some universities conducting sleep-related studies also offer a lucrative chance for dedicated nappers to earn by sleeping for a stipulated time. Recently the University of Colorado Boulder paid $2.4k to participants who participated in their sleep trials that last four days each. The five reviewers were eligible to receive $1500 at the end of the testing tenure. EachNight is another popular website that hires nap reviewers for participating in different sleep experiments to determine optimal nap durations, the effect of sleeping on relieving fatigue levels, and understanding the effect of sleep on our memory, productivity, and ultimately, motivation. These studies concentrate on a variety of factors like respiration, brain waves, and heart rate while the person is sleeping. You cannot do these jobs if you have any pre-screened sleep disorders or existing family obligations. This job tenure might continue for days or even months according to your client’s requirements.

Area of work: You just need to sleep by setting up your camera so your supervisors can monitor your activities.

Earning potential: You can earn from $100 to $3k/trial on being hired as a test subject.

Websites to find work: ClinicalTrials.gov

5. Sleep while donating plasma

Blood plasma is a pivotal part of the human body constituting 55% of our blood. The remaining part is comprised of platelets, white blood cells, and red blood cells. A good night’s sleep is essential for donating plasma. You can even doze off while the plasma transfusion process is being conducted. CSL Plasma pays its donors up to $1000 in the first month. Plasma can be donated up to two times a week and you will get paid to nap lounging on the donation chair.

Area of work: Donate Plasma

Earning potential: Approximately $400 per session

Websites to find work: friends2support.org

Overnight house sitter

You can create a profile at Care.com for promoting your services and connecting with potential service buyers. Some tasks you will be expected to perform are light cleaning, watering plants, and dusting. The best thing about this job is that you can enjoy a good night’s sleep once your regular duties are done.

Area of work: Your responsibility will be to look after people’s home and ensure it is safe while they are away.

Earning potential: $22.75 an hour

Websites to find work: Rover, Care, House Sitters America, Luxury House Sitting, House Sit Match, Caretaker Gazette, MindMyHouse

6. Mystery shopping in hotels

Modern hoteliers wish to deliver nothing but the best to their clientele. Coyle is a popular market research company offering consumer feedback to its hospitality clients. You can sign up with this app and wait for the right opportunities to come your way. If you are selected then the company will pay you for staying and sleeping at the hotels while reviewing their services. Apart from hotels, you can also be a mystery shopper at spas, cruises, and healthcare institutions.

Area of work: You can test the competitiveness and hospitality of hotels by engaging in mystery shopping. Your duty will be to write a detailed review of the services offered like whether the staff was friendly or if the mattress was comfortable. All these review points can help the management team conduct a quality check.

Earning potential: This money-making hobby is encouraged by hotels and so you can easily fetch between $20-22 an hour by sleeping in hotels.

Websites to find work: Secret Shopper, BestMark, Market Force, IntelliShop, Perception Strategies, Inc., A Closer Look

7. Receiving phone calls

If you’ve been hired to answer phone calls then you can take a nap and wake up whenever the call comes in. However, the payout varies from one company to another.

Area of work: You will have to answer calls.

Earning potential: You can take up a job as a telemarketer to earn up to $1500 per call.

Websites to find work: Xerox, EagleDial

8. Security guard

Sometimes the security guards work long shifts ranging between 16 to 24 hours. Some companies allow the security guards to sleep during these shifts provided they remain on call for responding to potential incidents.

Area of work: As a security guard, your primary job responsibility will be enforcing rules, patrolling the area, and preventing crime.

Earning potential: As a security guard, you can expect to earn around $32539 per year.

Websites to find work: Silent professionals, ihiresecurity, Securityguardtraininghq

9. Line sitting

Did you ever try visiting Walmart during their flash sale events or buying an iPhone on the day of its launch? If you’ve been there then you are well aware of the lengthy queue. This is where a professional line placeholder comes in to secure your spot whenever a product or service is sold. You might even sleep for brief patches after securing your client’s spot. Same Ole Line Dudes is a reputed platform offering this opportunity in the USA. You might have to wait outside even in extreme weather conditions for your clients, be it for mega sales to auditions.

Area of work: You might be required to stand in line overnight for your client.

Earning potential: In the USA, you can make between $25-35 an hour by keeping lines for others. After the first hour, you can charge $10 for the subsequent 30-minute periods.

Websites to find work: InLine4you, Indeed, TaskRabbit, ZipRecruiter

9. Overnight pet sitter

Our beloved pets also deserve comfort and care making pet-sitting a lucrative profession. You can embark on this journey with websites like Rover. People will pay you to sleep comfortably at your home or the client’s home while accompanying their pets unless they need care at night. This gig might be for a day or an entire week.

Area of work: You will be required to perform duties like changing the water bowls, feeding pets, providing exercise, administering medications, and taking them for walks. Often pet sitters might perform light household chores as per the request of their clients.

Earning potential: As per the latest estimates, you can make around $25/hour as an overnight pet sitter.

Websites to find work: Fetchpetcare, Rover, Care, Meowtel, Wag, PetSitter, PetBacker, Bay Area Pet Pals, and Nextdoor.

10. Sleep exhibitionist

If you don’t mind dozing off in front of strangers, then you can consider becoming a sleep exhibitionist. Modern-age artist and New Yorker Chu Yun hired 100 ladies between 18 to 40 years of age for participating in a giant art installation in 2009. They took sleeping pills and slept amidst a big crowd of viewers. They had to lie in beds and sleep over six hours between 12 pm and 6 pm wearing comfortable clothing of their preference. However, you need to have an unconventional personality for being an exhibitionist.

Area of work: Sleep while viewers come to watch the exhibit.

Earning potential: $10 per hour

Websites to find work: N/A

Companies That Will Pay You To Sleep

Sleep Junkies is a legit company that can pay you to sleep. They post global openings now and then. Once you join them as a sleeping expert, you will have to test the performance of mattresses for two months. The company pays around $3k for each assignment. Apart from mattresses, you might be required to test pillows and blankets.
As a team member of Sleep Standards, you can make up to $2k per night sleeping at posh accommodations. The company employs environmental sleep testers who test the impact of ambient changes on sleep quality. You will be required to sleep in different setups every day and submit an in-depth review of your sleeping quality. However, only permanent citizens of the USA can access this platform. You will be required to create a short 60-second video and link your social media accounts to apply for these positions.
Wakefit is a company that is accredited for producing premium quality mattresses. It hires sleep experts to test its upcoming products before launching them in the market. You will have to sleep on their mattresses daily for 9 hours each over a span of 100 nights before submitting an honest review of the product. Wakefit pays the volunteers around $1.4k for each assignment. You also get to keep the mattress at the end of the trial period.
Eachnight offers end-to-end sleeping solutions ranging from bedding to mattresses, blinds, curtains, pillows, and other sleeping accessories. The company holds frequent trials and sleep testers can participate in them. You will need to understand the high and low points of a product so that the company can improve them further. Eachnight pays an hourly rate of $40 and part-time sleepers can earn more than $1.5k per month.
Aetna is a USA-based company offering a dedicated sleep program. It has been offering in-work nap time to its employees since 2014 to improve their overall performance. As an Aetna employee, you can simply doze off whenever you feel exhausted. The company pays an allowance of $25/night to employees for enjoying a good night’s sleep at the house up to a maximum ceiling of 20 nights.
Crafted Beds is a leading mattress manufacturer in the UK which will pay you up to $40k a year as a mattress tester. However, you need to be a UK citizen above 18 years to qualify for this job.
Same Old Line Dudes is a leading platform offering legitimate line-sitting jobs in the USA. The company holds regular openings and you can earn handsomely if you don’t mind sleeping anywhere. You can expect to make $25/hour depending on the rush and length of the queue.
NASA, the premier space research organization conducted a “Bed Rest Study” in 2019 to understand different sleeping patterns. The participants were paid $19k each just to sleep for two months. The results of these studies helped NASA understand the different conditions faced by an astronaut in space. Some of the participants complained of weightlessness and similar physical problems while working on this NASA project.
State-funded organization ClinicalTrials maintains all data and records of both privately and publicly funded clinical studies and trials conducted across the globe. The complete resource of this platform is provided by the National Library of Medicine in the USA. You can log onto its website Clinicaltrials.org to check out upcoming paid trials in your locality.

Conclusion

Earning money while sleeping sounds like a utopian dream. But this is a high-paying idea you can try out this year. While we have listed the most legit ways of getting paid to sleep, all of them aren’t suitable for everyone. For example, if you are suffering from any sleep disorder or existing disease, then you won’t be able to participate in clinical trials. Bed testing agencies and mattress companies don’t have such strict criteria although the payment is significantly lower.