Sleep Matters Initiative

Improved Sleep Leads to a Healthier Life

Sleep Matters Initiative – Sleep Services

Sleep Health and Wellness Programs (Education and Screening)

View the sleep matters initiative brochure

Comprehensive sleep health education program, including customized presentation with video vignettes of employees, top sleep, specialists, public figures and sleep health advocates.

  • The program includes information on the impact of sleep deficiency on health and safety and costs to society; tips on improved sleeping habits; information on common sleep disorders and caffeine use.
  • Screening for common sleep disorders provide immediate risk level notification.
  • One-touch scheduling option removes barriers for follow-up diagnostic evaluation.
  • Optional monitoring can include daily sleep diaries with immediate feedback on sleep duration and regularity, supplemented by objective monitoring of sleep using wearable or bedside devices.
  • 6-month follow-up program including tailored communications designed to promote behavioral change.

These programs can be delivered as:

Fatigue Risk Management Program Evaluation

Comprehensive Fatigue Risk Management program evaluation identifies best practices by occupation.

  • Program costs and benefits are quantified.
  • Outcomes data are collected for analysis and summary review.
  • Pre- and post-implementation analysis is provided for specific work groups.
  • A final report is prepared and presented to the employer.

Electronic Sleep Diary (eDiary)

The eDiary is a web-based sleep-wake diary designed for easy and accurate data capture with participant-friendly data entry, real-time feedback and data visualization. The diary includes multiple question-response types (e.g., robust date-time pickers, visual analog scales), real-time consistency checking and an administrator interface which provides useful tools for both study staff and researchers.

graph of sleep patterns

Over 85,000 days of data, from over 3,500 participants and across more than 10 studies funded by the NIH, NIOSH and other agencies, have been collected with the eDiary. The diary delivers clean, accurate data, minimizes study team time and effort, improves data quality and reduces participant burden. It has standard sleep-related questions and can be customized to include work schedules, daily activities, mood and/or any other question required for data collection.

For more information about the eDiary, visit our documentation site, or contact us at sleepmatters@partners.org.

Travel Policies and Recommendations

Development of travel policies is critical to enhance the safety and productivity of employees traveling for work.

  • Company/industry/occupational specific recommendations are provided.
  • Evidence-based recommendations to minimize jet lag for individual travel itineraries are available.

Schedule Design

Employee health, safety and productivity require optimal, evidence-based work-schedule design and work-hours policy implantation.

  • Schedules are designed to meet the operational requirements of the job, but also to address the preferences of the employees and their biological needs.
  • A report on scheduling and work hour policy recommendations is prepared for the employer and presented by a member of the Sleep Matter Initiative team. The team has extensive experience crafting solutions that accommodate labor, management and regulatory issues.

The evaluation and design process can include:

  • Analyzing schedules of all the employees in a company across an entire year to quantify the physiological ramifications of work hours and policies
  • Conducting interviews and focus groups to gather information on how the employees perceive the schedules, and to gather additional data (e.g. commute times).

Fatigue Risk Management Certification Program

The Fatigue Risk Management Certification Program is a multi-day educational course on fatigue risk management provided in a conference setting.

  • Programs can be custom designed for industries, companies, or particular areas of interest.
  • Topics include occupational safety, workplace performance, athletic performance, employee health and wellness, and many others.
  • Evidence is provided of competency training for employees responsible for fatigue risk management.