đ€Preamble
Whether you're young, old, rich or living paycheck-to-paycheck, the one thing that all humans have in common is sleep. We all need to sleep. Sleep doesn't discriminate. We all need it.
If you are like me, youâve Googled tips and tricks for falling asleep faster, youâve tried the no-screen thing, and tried to learn how to unwind after a long busy day staring into a bright screen, resisting the urge to look at your phone before bed.
We all try and fail to sleep more, to get a better nights rest. But, we have smartphones, we are constantly consuming content. Itâs not uncommon that a large portion of the 40 and under age group are scrolling their feeds in bed at night. We are always âonâ and it is having disastrous consequences.
đResearch
The sleep solutions market is worth $100 billion dollars (and growing). In the linked report, it reveals something interesting: the demand for âsoftâ sleep solutions (wearable tech, pillows, mattresses, eye masks) is growing faster than the demand for âhardâ sleep solutions such as prescription medications.
Since working from home was thrust upon a large proportion of the population due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey, 70% of those working from home have had their sleep patterns disrupted.
The CDC states that adults aged 18-60 years of age should be getting 7 or more hours of sleep per night.
According to the American Sleep Association, 50-70 million adults in the US alone have a sleep disorder. The aforementioned link has quite a few interesting sleep statistics which do not bode well for those not getting enough sleep.
According to a Rand report, insufficient sleep is costly for the economy. According to the report, the US loses about 1.2 million working days due to insufficient sleep, Canada comparatively only loses about 80,000 days but has a much smaller population. The report also states that if those who slept 6 or fewer hours slept 7 or more, it would add $226..4 billion into the US economy.
There are 175 online mattress companies (you know the ones that advertise on podcasts) and people are having a hard time telling them all apart. So, if youâre thinking of starting an online mattress company, maybe think a little harder.
Insufficient sleep is a public health epidemic, not getting the required amount of sleep has a tremendous effect on your overall health and wellbeing. An alarming part I will quote from the linked paper is eye-opening.
Insufficient sleep leads to the derailment of body systems, leading to increased incidences of cardiovascular morbidity, increased chances of diabetes mellitus, obesity, derailment of cognitive functions, vehicular accidents, and increased accidents at workplaces
đ§Observations
Working from home has blurred the lines between work and home life, as such, people are finding it hard to switch off
The sleep industry is massive and profitable
There is a growing demand for soft sleep products that are not prescription medications or other drastic hard solutions
The online mattress-in-a-box thing is well and truly a done concept, with a plethora of competitors out there all offering the same products as one another, people are over mattresses
Insufficient sleep is an epidemic, it negatively impacts the economy as well as the health of people
People are always looking for solid information on how to sleep, itâs something people want and they donât know how to get it
Wearable tech in the sleep sector is experiencing continual growth
People are tired and stressed, they canât turn off
đOpportunities
People are sick and tired of having mattresses marketed at them. There is an opportunity for alternative sleep products that are not as drastic (and expensive) as a new mattress.
Light therapy which has been studied for decades shows promise. Aromarest is a product that combines light therapy with aromatherapy and sounds to help you sleep better. Even big companies like Phillips are getting into the sleep game with products like the Phillips SmartSleep which claim to help you sleep by interrupting brain waves (or something to that effect).
Maybe going down the path of making a hardware product or getting something manufactured during a pandemic might be a little tricky (not-to-mention risky), but whatâs stopping you from creating some kind of app to help people sleep better? You donât even need to know how to code these days as the rise of no-code platforms and tools foster and encourage ideas.
Take a step back, create a blog (which requires no coding knowledge) and write about ways people can get better sleep. Start a YouTube channel and interview sleep experts, talk with people suffering from sleep disorders, do research and create niche content for interested eyeballs. If youâre brave and committed enough, start a podcast about sleep.
You donât need to be a sleep expert to talk about sleep, to be interested in sleep, to want to know how to sleep better and teach others. Everyone is qualified to some degree to talk about sleep.
đIn Summary
A plethora of companies, Kickstarter projects and podcast-advertising hipster sleep companies are all promising to help you get a better nights sleep. And yet, new companies, new research and new products keep appearing. Itâs almost as if what we currently have isnât good enough.
Whatever we have right now isnât working. Maybe itâs all in the delivery, maybe the information is already there and it just needs to be delivered better. Could you be the person to finally do something that works?