Spa clients often say they’d like to fall asleep after their treatments, something the schedule rarely allows. However, these same clients are often unable to sleep well at night, and studies show that the lack of sleep has long-lasting effects on overall health and vitality. At the Global Wellness Institute’s release of the wellness industry economy data earlier this year, Dr Mehmet Oz – who has just been named as one of the keynotes at this year’s Global Wellness Summit – made a surprise appearance and delivered some impactful messages on the power of sleep.
At the event, Dr. Oz said that sleep is the “single biggest underappreciated health problem,” and that there is much more spas can do to promote healing.
“Spas can help us re-boot our system and help us remember what life feels like when we are sleeping normally,” Oz tells Spa Business. “We can also disrupt our bad habits and learn hacks to maintain normalcy after returning home from the spa.”
Dr Oz sits on the Six Senses Wellness Board, which features specialist doctors and scientists who advise the spa and resort brand on nutrition, sleep, and cardiovascular and complementary medicine as part of the Integrated Wellness programme.
Sleep specialist Dr Michael Breus has worked with Six Senses to create a the Sleep with Six Senses programme, which includes a pre-arrival questionnaire, a meeting with a Sleep Ambassador, custom-made mattresses fitted with organic sheets, use of a sleep-tracking device, and a menu of sleep-inducing spa treatments.
“Six Senses is superb because it offers an entire ecosystem, so we can really feel the bliss of being rested,” says Oz. “I had yoga nidra-based therapy in Six Senses Oman, and I was in a twilight that I have tried to emulate since.”
Oz also points to wellness destination Miraval, which he says “does a nice job educating guests” on sleep health – another way that spas can get involved in the sleep wellness picture.
Other spa and wellness destinations – including One&Only, Ritz-Carlton, Grand Resort Bad Ragaz and Canyon Ranch – offer treatments or programmes designed to help customers sleep better. Even suppliers have got in on the game, with companies like Comfort Zone creating a Tranquility Pro Sleep Massage.
Oz has long advocated for the important role sleep plays in health and wellness, and recently entered into a joint venture called SleepScore Labs with ResMed and Pegasus Capital Partners. ResMed currently manufactures a non-contact, cloud-connected device called the S+, which uses bio-motion sensors to measure sleep patterns and is used at Six Senses. Beginning in late 2016, S+ devices were also shared with more than 20,000 consumers through Dr Oz’s television show, and so far 1.5 million hours of sleep data have been recorded. The data shows that 70 per cent of people are sleeping less than the minimum recommendation of seven hours per night.
“I’ve learned in my time as a public health teacher, advocate, television host and physician that the current standard of sleep quality in America is drastically unacceptable,” says Oz. “We pay so much attention to making resolutions about diet and exercise. It’s high time we paid more attention to sleep. We know if people have the right tools, they will be able to improve their sleep and overall health.”
