Australia 2022: Sleep Health Foundation | Executive Officer, Sleep Health Foundation

Delegate: Sleep Health Foundation

Affiliation: Executive Officer, Sleep Health Foundation

Short Bio: Sleep Health Foundation
Australia's Leading Advocate for Healthy Sleep, the Sleep Health Foundation is a not for profit health promotion charity that aims to raise community awareness about the value of sleep and its common disorders, and to improve public health and safety. The Foundation receives no government resources and relies on the untied funding and support of its corporate partners, sponsors, members and donations.
Led by an experienced Board of Non-Executive Directors, the Foundation prides itself on its expertise and independence. Our mission is to promote better sleep to optimise health, well-being and performance for all Australians.

Activity: Activity 1:
Sleep Health Foundation is partnering with Ambulance NSW to rollout a webinar to all its employees(over 6,500) to help raise awareness of the importance of sleep to their general wellbeing, mental health, safety and productivity. The discussion includes:
– Addressing 4 x topics identified by a staff survey – sleep and shift work, napping, melatonin and sleep and science of sleep.
– Shift work/on call – acknowledgement of the challenges faced by employees with getting sleep when on call or managing their shift work schedules.
– Sleep tips – recommended remedies/routines that are known to work well to help get back to sleep when it is disrupted.
– The best routines to get body clock back to normal after night shift and going into days off.
– Managing night shift patterns.
– Identifying when you need to seek help about how lack of sleep is affecting you day to day functioning at work and home.
– Information on wearable technologies and their effectiveness.
– Overview of resources are available to employees wanting more information.

Activity 2:
Social Media Campaign – the Sleep Health Foundation is partnering with Her Heart Australia to run a joint social media campaign:

Specifically the campiagn addresses Sleep Apnoea and the Heart and how important it is to pay attention to the warning signs of sleep apnoea and the importance of seeking treatment early to lower your risk of developing heart disease.

Location: Webinar available to all Ambulance NSW employees.

Date of Activity: 18 March 2022

Submitted by: Helen Burdette, Sleep Health Foundation