Sleep plays a huge role in overall health, yet many employees struggle to get enough rest. We wanted to see how different wellness programs are tackling sleep and what creative solutions they offer.
Getting a good night’s sleep isn’t just about feeling well-rested—it’s essential for overall health and work performance. Studies show that about 35% of U.S. adults don’t get the recommended seven hours of sleep per night, leading to increased stress, lower productivity, and higher healthcare costs.
At the same time, nearly 60% of companies now offer some form of wellness program, recognizing the impact of sleep, exercise, and nutrition on employee well-being.
So we wanted to see how these companies are including sleep related advice, programs, and technology into their wellness platforms. There are plenty of creative ways to help employees get the rest they need. In this guide, we’ll explore 25 sleep wellness program ideas that can boost energy, mood, and overall job performance.
1. Encouraging Physical Activity
Wellable emphasizes the importance of physical activity to boost employee sleep quality. Regular exercise not only reduces stress but also tires the body, making it easier to fall asleep at night.
By promoting activities like walking meetings, fitness challenges, or providing gym memberships, employers can help staff incorporate more movement into their day.
This approach not only enhances overall health but also leads to better rest and increased productivity.
2. Guided Sleep Meditation
Headspace highlights the benefits of guided sleep meditation to help individuals fall asleep more easily. These meditations focus on calming the mind and relaxing the body, making it easier to drift into sleep.
By incorporating guided sleep meditations into a wellness program, employees can learn techniques to manage stress and improve their sleep quality.
3. Emphasis on REM Sleep
RethinkCare emphasizes the importance of REM sleep for emotional processing. During REM sleep, the brain reactivates emotional and problematic memories in a safe environment free from stress chemicals like norepinephrine.
This process allows individuals to reprocess upsetting memories through reflective dreaming, promoting emotional regulation and mental health.
Encouraging employees to prioritize sufficient REM sleep can lead to better emotional well-being and improved workplace interactions.
4. Stimulus Control Therapy
Asset Health discusses Stimulus Control Therapy as an effective method to improve sleep. This technique involves associating the bed strictly with sleep, meaning if you can't fall asleep within about 15 minutes, you should get up and engage in a quiet activity until you feel sleepy again.
The goal is to strengthen the mental link between your bed and sleeping, helping to reduce insomnia over time.
Incorporating this approach into a wellness program can guide employees toward healthier sleep habits, leading to better rest and increased daytime alertness.
5. Sleep Coach
BetterUp discusses the role of a sleep coach in helping individuals improve their sleep habits. A sleep coach provides education, support, and actionable plans to overcome sleep problems and build better routines.
Unlike sleep consultants, who are registered medical professionals often associated with pediatric care, sleep coaches focus on guiding adults toward healthier sleep practices.
6. Sleep Education Campaign
Launching a sleep education campaign involves sharing informative materials like infographics, videos, and articles that explain the science of sleep and its impact on health.
WellRight explains that by educating staff, companies can help them reflect on their sleep patterns, identify issues, and find solutions to improve rest.
This foundational knowledge encourages deeper engagement with wellness initiatives and fosters healthier sleep routines.
7. Discover Your Sleep Style
Grokker's "Sleep Smarter" program, is a seven-day course designed to help individuals identify their unique sleep styles and improve their rest.
Each session offers practical advice and techniques tailored to enhance sleep quality.
By incorporating this program into a wellness initiative, employees can gain personalized insights and strategies to achieve better sleep.
8. Optimize Your Sleep Space
Calm's offers practical advice to enhance sleep quality by optimizing your bedroom setting. They suggest maintaining a cool room temperature between 60–67°F (15–19°C) to promote comfort during sleep.
Reducing noise through the use of earplugs, white noise machines, or soundproofing techniques can help minimize disturbances. Additionally, keeping the bedroom dark with blackout curtains and minimizing light exposure supports the body's natural sleep-wake cycle.
Incorporating these strategies into a wellness program can guide employees toward creating a sleep-friendly environment, leading to better rest and overall well-being.
9. Leverage Technology and Tools
Unmind has developed a suite of digital sleep tools aimed at improving employee sleep quality and work performance.
Their research indicates that participants using these tools 2-3 times per week experienced a 16.5% increase in productivity and an average gain of 3.5 hours of additional sleep per week.
10. Establish a Media Curfew
Premise Health suggests setting and maintaining a media curfew to improve sleep quality. Engaging with devices before bedtime can lead to shorter sleep durations and decreased sleep quality due to psychological stimulation and exposure to blue light.
By establishing a media curfew—turning off electronic devices at least an hour before bed—employees can promote better sleep hygiene.
Incorporating this practice into a wellness program can help staff achieve more restful sleep, enhancing overall health and productivity.
11. Emphasis on Mindfulness Programs
Vitality's HealthyMind™ program emphasizes the importance of quality sleep and mindfulness for overall well-being.
Through the Vitality Today™ mobile app, members can earn points for achieving eight hours of downtime per night, promoting healthier sleep routines.
Incorporating such initiatives into a wellness program can help employees improve their sleep, leading to enhanced mental health and productivity.
12. Self-Hypnosis For Better Sleep Program
Mindset Health discusses the use of self-hypnosis techniques to improve sleep quality.
Self-hypnosis involves guiding oneself into a state of deep relaxation and focus, which can help address various sleep disturbances such as difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or experiencing frequent nightmares.
Incorporating self-hypnosis sessions into a wellness program can empower employees to manage their sleep issues effectively.
13. Sleep and Nutrition Program
Wellics emphasizes the significant impact nutrition has on sleep quality and overall employee wellness. They highlight that certain foods can promote better sleep, while others may hinder it.
For instance, consuming foods rich in tryptophan, such as poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, and seeds, can enhance sleep by increasing melatonin production. On the other hand, high sugar intake is associated with lighter, less restorative sleep and more frequent awakenings.
Incorporating nutritional guidance into a wellness program can help employees make informed dietary choices and lead to better sleep.
14. Start a Sleep Wellness Challenge
WellSteps presents a variety of wellness challenge ideas to promote healthier lifestyles among employees. One such challenge is the Sweet Dreams initiative, which focuses on improving sleep quality.
Participants are encouraged to establish consistent sleep routines, limit screen time before bed, and create a restful sleeping environment.
15. Information About Sleep Deprivation
TotalWellness Health identifies several signs that may indicate you're not getting enough sleep. These include frequent illnesses due to a weakened immune system, the development of new health issues, increased irritability and moodiness, and difficulty concentrating.
Recognizing these symptoms is crucial, as chronic sleep deprivation can significantly impact overall health and daily functioning.
Incorporating sleep education into a wellness program can help employees understand the importance of adequate rest and adopt better sleep habits.
16. Sleep Yoga Classes
Burnalong offers a comprehensive corporate wellness platform that includes classes focused on sleep wellness. Their programs feature sleep yoga (Yoga Nidra), which helps alleviate stress, insomnia, anxiety, and depression.
17. Link Between Diet and Sleep
Health Advocate looks into how dietary habits can impact sleep quality. They advise avoiding meals within four hours of bedtime to prevent indigestion and sleep disturbances. Limiting caffeine and sugar intake in the evening is also recommended, as these can act as stimulants and disrupt sleep.
Additionally, while alcohol might make you feel drowsy initially, it can interfere with deep, restorative sleep cycles.
Incorporating nutritional guidance into a wellness program can help employees make informed choices that promote better sleep and overall health.
18. Provide Educational Materials
Personify Health emphasizes the importance of supporting employees in achieving adequate sleep, as one in three U.S. adults sleep less than seven hours per night.
They recommend providing educational materials that highlight the significance of sleep, offer guidance on establishing consistent nighttime routines, and share stress management techniques.
19. Sleep as a Pillar of Health
Corporate Fitness Works emphasizes that, along with exercise and a balanced diet, sleep is a crucial pillar of a healthy lifestyle.
They highlight that quality sleep affects daily energy levels, patience, work effectiveness, and overall feelings of well-being. Lack of adequate sleep can lead to health issues such as weight gain, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and even early mortality.
Incorporating sleep health education into a wellness program can help employees understand the importance of sufficient rest, leading to improved health and productivity.
20. Low Tech For Better Sleep
Foodsmart discusses how using earplugs and eye masks can enhance sleep quality by minimizing disruptions from light and noise.
They note that custom-molded earplugs, made from materials like acrylic, vinyl, or silicone, are designed to fit snugly in the ear canal, effectively blocking out unwanted sounds.
A good eye mask can prevent light exposure that might interfere with sleep. Incorporating these tools into a wellness program can help employees create a more conducive sleep environment, leading to better rest.
21. Combat Burnout With Sleep
FitOn Health offers several strategies to help employees combat burnout, with a focus on improving sleep quality. They emphasize the importance of getting 7-9 hours of sleep each night, noting that sleep disturbances can lead to chronic energy loss and increased stress levels.
Encouraging your team to prioritize sleep can result in better productivity, creativity, and overall work quality.
Sharing resources like sleep guides or challenges can further support employees in developing healthy sleep habits.
22. Family Sleep Education Initiative
Wellhub highlights the significant impact of sleep deprivation on both employee health and corporate healthcare costs. They note that insufficient sleep is linked to various health issues, including insomnia, depression, and cardiovascular diseases, which can drive up healthcare expenses.
Strategies include offering sleep education workshops, providing access to sleep tracking apps, and encouraging consistent sleep schedules.
By supporting employees in improving their sleep quality, companies can enhance overall well-being and reduce healthcare costs.
23. Sleep Challenges
IncentFit provides a variety of sleep challenge templates designed to help employees improve their sleep habits. These challenges, created by wellness coaches, come with helpful tips, emails, and built-in notifications to guide participants.
Incorporating these structured sleep challenges into a wellness program can support employees in developing healthier sleep routines, leading to improved overall well-being and productivity.
24. Sleep Apps
Reward Gateway highlights the role of sleep improvement apps in enhancing employee well-being. These apps assist users in monitoring sleep patterns, offering insights to boost sleep quality.
Features often include relaxation sounds and guided meditations to aid in falling asleep.
25. Shift Workers and Good Sleep
HES Online discusses the challenges shift workers face due to disruptions in natural circadian rhythms. Shift workers often get about two hours less sleep per period than the general population.
Employers can implement shift schedules that align as closely as possible with natural sleep patterns, provide education on sleep hygiene, and create a workplace culture that prioritizes rest.
Wrap Up
From sleep tracking challenges to guided relaxation programs, there are plenty of ways companies can help their teams get the rest they need. By incorporating sleep wellness initiatives, businesses can create a healthier, more energized workforce.
If you're looking to improve sleep wellness at your company, consider trying one of these ideas or combining several to fit your team’s needs. A well-rested employee is a happier, more productive one, and investing in sleep is an investment in success.