Yes. You read that correctly.
We are putting our website to sleep. When? For the entire duration of Sleep Awareness Week (March 13-19, 2022).
So if visitors land on our website between 10pm and 6am, we ask them to either (a) come back the next day or (b) wake us up if they really need help on something. Plus, you meet our cute friend. Here’s a sneak peek of what that will look like.
“But hey – you folks sell a kickass SaaS management and procurement tool. Why a Sleep campaign?” Turns out SaaS spend gave many of our customers nightmares. Just kidding.
Why focus on Sleep?
I am an armchair neuroscientist. I got enamored with studying brain chemistry when researching cognitive biases many years ago. My bookshelf reflects this passion.
At home, my family and I follow a regime that focuses on getting a good night’s sleep. Eat healthy. Sleep well. Exercise daily. I have been married a long time, but to this day we do not have a TV in our bedroom. Until Quolum kicked-off, all my devices were at a charging station outside. They have been excused since then. I don’t even use an alarm clock to wake-up. Sleep on time, and let the body wake you up when it is done.
Quolum’s team is fully remote – across four countries in multiple time zones. Despite this, I ensure that I’m done for the day before mid-night. This makes my next day fully charged and active. A good night’s sleep is what makes my next day. There are more variables, but sleep is the primary one I optimize around.
It’s estimated that between 50-70 million Americans suffer from a sleep disorder. Yet, sleep remains vastly misunderstood, and under-researched. Of the 112 Nobel Prizes awarded in Medicine and Physiology, less than 10 have been on brain chemistry.
At Quolum, we are putting our website to sleep to promote a healthy lifestyle. We want to bring awareness to a problem affecting millions, but one that no one talks about because sleep is bad for business. After all, if you are asleep, you can’t buy a product.
The larger problem in Tech
Tech was supposed to be about making lives easier. But if anything, the reverse has happened.
For instance, people are so hooked to their phones that they imagine it vibrating, even when it’s not. Now there is a medical term for this syndrome. Netflix goes out and says their biggest competition is sleep. Instagram reels are designed to keep you scrolling forever, at the cost of not just your sleep but also your mental health.
In contrast, the last 100 years of innovation in technology has made our lives comfortable and has given us from the steam engine to power loom, to wireless phones, to electric cars.
Has tech made our lives better? For sure.
But have there been some very real costs? Yes. Poor sleep, directly attributable to both tech usage and the hustle culture that Silicon Valley’s innovation machine swears by has created the most obese and depressed generation in history.
Most founders don’t sleep enough. Most early-stage teams don’t either. Founders even take to Twitter to complain about their sleep habits.
This has to tone down. Our habits have to change. Someone needs to take a stand. Thankfully, we are taking this and we are not alone. Supporting us on this incredible awareness mission are some truly remarkable companies.
Amazing organisations supporting our mission
Ultrahuman: Ultrahuman is the world’s most advanced metabolic fitness platform. By using glucose and other biomarkers, Ultrahuman is helping people improve their energy levels, lose fat and avoid metabolic disorders. Their repository of sleep resources is here.
Crescent Sleep: The wonderful folks at Crescent shared this lovely blog post with us, on how tech workers can sleep better. They are on an incredible mission to unlock the connection between daily habits, sleep performance, and energy levels. Combining data from tracking devices, such as wearables, CGMs, and smartphones, clients use Crescent’s app for science-backed programs and 1-on-1 coaching to measurably improve their health outcomes.
Othership.us: Othership offers 500+ music-driven guided breathwork classes to lift you up and ground you down–kickstart your day, cultivate focus, fight fatigue, sleep deeper, regulate your emotions, and learn the science-backed how + why of breathing mechanics.
Go to Sleep
Sleep matters. And not just around Sleep Awareness Week.
I’m not saying shut this tab immediately and crash (it may not be the right time!). Plus, I’d rather you share this with a friend and educate them too. That said, let this post be a reminder for you to take care of yourselves. #GetSleepDone