Institute for Continuing Education

Sleep as an Industry

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Identify the areas of sleep that have become part of the so-called The Sleep-Industrial Complex.
• Describe the scope of this industry in terms of populations and financials.
• Identify the medications involved referred to as the so-called Z drugs which have destigmatized sleeping-pill use.
• Describe the types and functions of facilities included in what has been referred to as Sleep Centers.

Course Information

A sleep boom, or as Forbes put it last year, “a sleep racket,” is under way. It has been estimated that American “sleeponomics” to be worth $20 billion a year, which includes everything from the more than 1,000 accredited sleep clinics (some of them at spas) conducting overnight tests for disorders like apnea, to countless over-the-counter and herbal sleep aids, to how-to books and sleep-encouraging gadgets and talismans. Zia Sleep Sanctuary, a first of its kind luxury sleep store that I visited in Eden Prairie, Minn., carries “light-therapy” visors, the Zen Alarm Clock, the Mombasa Majesty mosquito net and a $600 pair of noise-canceling earplugs as well as 16 varieties of mattresses and 30 different pillows

In this course, we will explore the various aspects of this so-called industry and explore what has happened regarding growth in this part of our lives. We spend about 8 hours/day, 56 hours/week, 240 hours/month and 2,920 hours/year doing it...that’s right...SLEEPING. We apparently spend one third of our lives doing nothing. But is sleep really doing nothing? It looks like it...our eyes are closed, our muscles are relaxed, our breathing is regular, and we do not respond to sound or light. If you take a look at what is happening inside of your brain, however, you will find quite a different situation - the brain is very active. You are doing something! A quite significant something. Now numerous mini-industries have sprung up to support that “nothing” called sleep. There are hundreds of web sites devoted to all aspects of sleep: from scientific research to beds that make it more comfortable to sleep.