This Study Will Pay You to Sleep Under the Stars

I know what you’re thinking: This headline is too be good to be true. But no, really, Sleep Junkie wants to pay you to sleep. In an attempt to answer the question, “How do I get the best night of sleep?” the company is sending a family of four on vacation to sleep under the stars.

Sleep Junkie is going back to basics, asking the selected family to camp for three nights and record their sleep experience. In the report, participants will cite how external factors like temperature, sounds of the wild, and humidity all affected their night’s sleep. They will also be asked to discuss what they brought to sleep in, and how they enhanced (or didn’t enhance) their sleep.

The selected family will choose a campsite with all amenities covered. On top of a free vacation, the family also will receive $1,500 for participating in the study. However, there are some prerequisites: Adults must be 21 or older, speak fluent English, and have access to camping equipment. But, this does not mean you have to be a specialist in the outdoors. Sleep Junkie prefers a “family that are not ‘experts’ in outdoor sleeping so that the study can be authentic when tracking differences in sleeping.” The application is open to families everywhere.

“At Sleep Junkie our mission has always been to improve people’s sleep, regardless of their age, gender, or location and this goal has never wavered,” Dorothy Chambers, Sleep Junkie’s in-house sleep expert, said in a press release. “That’s why we’re continuing our quest to find the optimal sleeping environments for people universally, and how sleeping outdoors specifically affects people.”

To apply to the study, you must fill out a questionnaire, attach a headshot of your entire family, and submit a 60-second introduction video where you will vouch for your family and why you are the best selection for the study.

The study is slated to begin in early September. Sleep Junkie is aiming to choose a family before Aug. 14.