Sleep better - Perform better
Since the beginning of 2020, Hilding Anders has been providing sleep coaching to Swedish elite athletes. The objective is to improve their sleep health and for them to improve their performance, and ultimately win more medals in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo and coming Winter Olympics.
Hilding Anders and Sleepacy became an official “Team-Partner” to the Swedish Olympic Team back in January 2020. Together, the goal is to improve a selected number of athletes’ sleep via a mixture of education, coaching and optimal sleep products.
The athletes competing in the Olympics epitomize talent, hard work and dedication. If this is a common trait, then what can a team do to be even better? What are the contributing factors to significantly improve performance slowly but surely, day in day out? Whilst diet and training have always been imperative pillars for success, it is only recently that a brighter light has been cast to the impact sleep can have on performance. The Hilding Anders team has long held the belief that if you sleep better, you perform better. And for an elite athlete who pushes their body and mind more than the average person – good sleep can not only make a significant improvement on one’s performance, but also reduce the risk of injuries – a common occupational hazard for these talented athletes.
Hilding Anders and Sleepacy wanted to give the athletes of the Swedish Olympic team the best prerequisite from a sleep health perspective to perform at their peak, and ultimately – win as many medals as possible. In return, the research and development program that goes into this partnership will help Hilding Anders to further build on our existing knowledge and gain insights into the positive effects that sleep has on both performance and recovery for world-class athletes. The findings derived from this partnership will in turn become integrated into sleep solutions that people around the world can benefit from.
Sleep coaching for optimal performance
During all of 2020, Hilding Anders’ Chief Sleep Officer, Sanjay Verma, has provided tailored sleep coaching to 17 Summer Olympic athletes. Following the positive feedback and a clear proof of concept for the sleep coaching program, SOC requested us to increase that number to 25 this year in preparation for the upcoming Winter Olympics. The partnership with SOC has not, however, solely been about one-to-one sleep coaching together with the athletes. Coaches have also received training and the athletes have been provided custom-made beds along with a bedroom makeover to create an optimal sleeping environment. Additionally, athletes are provided with a “Sleepacy travel kit” which contains a top-mattress, duvet and bedlinen designed to optimize their sleep during competitions and training camps.
“As of today, 17 Swedish elite athletes have completed our one-to-one sleep coaching program whilst 25 more are currently enrolled in the program. 82% of those who have finished their sleep coaching have improved their sleep efficiency (time asleep/time in bed). 64% have improved sleep latency (time required to fall asleep). 82% saw a decrease in night-time awakenings (which means improved sleep quality) and 91% saw a decrease in time spent awake during the middle of the night (improved sleep quality)”, says Sanjay Verma, Chief Sleep Officer at Hilding Anders.
Hilding Anders’ Chief Sleep Officer, Sanjay Verma
Recovery rooms at the Olympic Village in Tokyo
During the Olympics in Tokyo, Swedish athletes have specially designed recovery rooms developed by the Sleepacy team at their disposal. The recovery rooms are developed to boost the overall performance of the athletes during the Olympic Games and are equipped with state-of-the-art Sleepacy beds, sleep info and special lighting designed to help the athletes unwind and re-energize.
Looking to the future: Sleep coaching for Hilding Anders employees
Hilding Anders is dedicated to its mission of Improving lives through sleep and following the positive results of the program, the company is in the process of developing a sleep coaching program that will be made available for its employees.
“We are very happy with this partnership thus far and the positive impact that the program has had. We want to spread awareness both inside and outside Hilding Anders about the importance of sleep, diet, and exercise and how much it serves as a foundation for health and wellbeing. We have drawn from the learnings of the training that Sanjay has developed for the Olympic athletes, and we are looking to develop a sleep training program that will be made available to our employees”, says Peter Sturm, Chief People Officer at Hilding Anders.