From Blackpink to the business of sleep: The most-read Deep Dive newsletters of 2024

In March, we commemorated National Sleep Awareness Month with a Deep Dive on the business of sleep.

In our fast-paced world, sleep is an elusive luxury. But we become more health conscious, we are becoming more aware of the benefits of a good night’s rest.

Quality sleep is not just about feeling rested; it’s about optimising our physical, mental and emotional health. Unfortunately, catching up on sleep over the weekend cannot undo the effects of sleep deprivation on our health and waistlines.

As JoJo Jensen, the author of Dirt Farmer Wisdom, said: “Without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year-olds.” 

But the growing sleep industry, estimated to be valued at US$585 billion, promises to deliver optimal rest, with innovations such as smart pillows and wearables. 

Read the full Deep Dive on the business and benefits of sleep.

Read more: From better sleep to winning strategies: 7 podcasts all leaders need to listen

At the start of the year, we explored the concept of “deinfluencing”, a trend that emerged from TikTok where influencers shared what not to buy.  At that time, the hashtag #deinfluencing had garnered more than 1 billion views on the platform.

“Deinfluencing is living your life, drawing inspiration from what you see, but not necessarily feeling that you need to go out and create a carbon copy of someone else’s life,” said Paige Pritchard, a TikTok content creator.

Several experts argued that inflation and growing costs of living were driving the trend. The more sceptical posited that it was just another tactic by social influencers to build trust with their followers to influence another purchase later on. 

Read the full Deep Dive on deinfluencing, TikTok’s anti-shopping trend. 

See more: 7 Hong Kong rental and vintage shops to help you strike a balance between shopping and sustainability

From pandas to orangutans and koalas, animals have long played a role in symbolising goodwill and fostering international cooperation. But does animal diplomacy work? Our September 16 edition of The Deep Dive explored this question. 

Panda diplomacy, for instance, works for three reasons: they’re cute, they’re indigenous to China and the diplomacy programme doubles as a conservation project.

But these pandas don’t come for free: China leases each bear for US$1 million a year, half of which goes towards its conservation efforts.

Not everyone agrees about using animals as pawns for building diplomatic ties, however. On Malaysia’s orangutan diplomacy, ecologist Stuart Pimm, who is the Doris Duke Chair of Conservation Ecology at Duke University, says: “It is obscene, repugnant and extraordinarily hypocritical to destroy rainforests where orangutans live, take them away and give them as gifts to curry favour with other nations. It goes against how we should be protecting them and our planet.”

Read the full Deep Dive on animal diplomacy.

See more: From wearables to wellness: What’s next in pet care?

Back in February, we explored a topic that many of us know too well or have encountered before—road rage. While aggressive driving refers to behaviour that carelessly endangers another driver, road rage involves a purposeful act or intent to harm.

As opera singer Robert Breault once said, “Road rage is the expression of the amateur sociopath in all of us.”

Research suggests that age may play a part: younger drivers, particularly young men, are more likely to experience road rage. Unsurprisingly, drivers with road rage report more near-accidents and get more speeding tickets than low-anger drivers. 

According to the Metro Manila Development Authority, most of the region’s 72,000 road crashes in 2022 were due to road rage. In the US, there was a 500 per cent increase in fatal car accidents related to purposefully aggressive behaviour on the road between 2006 and 2015.  

Read the full Deep Dive on road rage.

The Deep Dive newsletter by Tatler Gen.T goes out every Monday. Subscribe here so you don’t miss the next edition.  

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