The Business of Better Sleep: How Startups Are Unlocking Restorative Health
New sleep apps are growing in popularity because “they do not chastise you for failing,” according to EQT partner Carolina Brochado.
- As we age, a good night’s sleep becomes harder to achieve for some.
Sleep is crucial to good health and something we do naturally from the moment we’re born but, as we get older, many of us find it harder. Two-thirds of adults don’t get the recommended seven to eight hours a night. One in 10 adults in Europe suffers from chronic insomnia, analysis by the National Library of Medicine shows.
It’s costing us more than a few bags under our eyes. Lack of sleep is associated with obesity, diabetes, depression and anxiety. The U.S. loses an equivalent of around 1.23 million working days a year due to illness or lack of productivity caused by insufficient sleep, the National Library of Medicine calculates. This corresponds to about 9.9 million working hours.
Despite the costs of global yawning, neither sufferers nor doctors have been good at finding solutions. We know that longer working hours, more travel, smartphones, social media, video streaming services – to add to the age-old distractions of caffeine and alcohol – can all stop us sleeping well. But working out which factors affect us most and how to combat them has, until now, meant spending a night or two in a laboratory, swaddled in electrodes. Few of us fancy that.
Help is now at hand. Dozens of new startups, many using smart rings or smart watches, help us to measure the quality of our sleep at home and find out ways to improve it. The number of hi-tech sleep trackers and other sleep apps is growing so fast that consultants at Statista calculate the global sleep-health industry is worth around $585bn.
How efficient is your sleep?
One of the better-known sleep aids is Ōura, thanks to the publicity generated by celebrity users who include Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Cristiano Ronaldo. Sensors in the $299–$349 brushed titanium, silver or rose gold ring on the wearer’s finger transmit information about body temperature and heart rate via bluetooth to a smartphone app, giving wearers insights into the quantity of their REM, their sleep efficacy and latency – how long it takes them to nod off.
The app then crunches the data to create a Readiness Score and daily goals to try to hit , from physical activity to rest, to improve sleep. The company’s CEO, Tom Hale, claims Ōura wearers get on average an extra 40 minutes of quality sleep each night. There are more than 2.5 million Ōura users in 100 countries, and the company is valued at more than $5bn.
Ōura, based in Finland, now has competition. Ultrahuman, headquartered in Bengaluru, India, Paris-based Circular, and RingConn, the U.S. arm of Shenzhen-based Ninenovo Technology, all offer ring-based sleep trackers. At January’s CES consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas – a city that tries to keep you awake more than any other – Fitbit showed off its latest Sleep Tracker, which calculates a nightly sleep quality score from 0 to 100, based on time spent in deep sleep, restlessness and heart rate.
Other popular sleep tech aids include audio apps Ozlo and Endel. Pop in Ozlo earbuds, and you will fall asleep listening to whatever music or podcast you like. Then, once the buds’ biometric sensors detect that you’ve nodded off, the soundtrack switches to sounds designed to mask outside noise, including a partner who snores. Endel uses artists, developers, and neuro-scientists to create similar ‘personalized sound environments’ to help us enjoy some quality shut-eye.
Sleep appzzz
Other offerings take a more holistic approach to getting good sleep. New York-based Wellhub signs up fitness and wellness providers, which employers bundle together and offer to their staff at reduced subscription rates. Among those services are Headspace, a meditation app that promotes sleep, and nutrition-based apps that encourage users to log what they eat and drink – notably coffee and alcoholic drinks – and monitor how well they sleep.
One reason the new tech is so popular is that sleeping, unlike, say, cycling is an activity that everyone takes part in. “They try to help you to measure something you don’t understand and want to improve and help you to find ways to do so,” says Carolina Brochado, Deputy Head of the EQT Growth Advisory team, who sits on the board of Wellhub.
New sleep-tracking wearables are the result of the miniaturization of sensors and microchips. Some, including the Apple watch and the Samsung smart watch, are so advanced that U.S. health regulators have approved them for sleep apnoea diagnosis. But none is a certified medical device. If lack of sleep is making you feel seriously unwell, “you should see a doctor,” Ōura CEO Hale advises.
The worst part of sleep, especially good, deep sleep, can be waking up. But there are even new products to ease us into the day. The Barisieur will rouse you with the sound of bubbling water and the smell of freshly brewed coffee. It’s almost worth going to bed for.
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