Minneapolis-based airbed manufacturer and retailer Sleep Number Corp. has partnered with the American Cancer Society for sleep research designed to inform cancer-specific sleep guidelines.
Over the next six years, ACS will conduct research with contributions from Sleep Number’s proprietary sleep data and sleep expertise to identify the impact of quality sleep on cancer prevention and recovery, with the goal of improving sleep outcomes for cancer patients and survivors.
Although ACS offers guidance around things such as diet, exercise and tobacco, it has not established guidelines for sleep. It has had limited knowledge of how sleep might affect cancer risk or outcomes after a cancer diagnosis or even how poor sleep might raise the risk of developing some types of cancer.
Now, with more than 13 billion hours of sleep data generated from Sleep Number 360 smart beds in conjunction with historical and ongoing cancer prevention studies, ACS will study the effects of cancer on patients’ and survivors’ nighttime sleep and biometric patterns. The collaboration between the two organizations will enable cancer research and prevention tied explicitly to quality sleep.
Shelly Ibach, president and chief executive officer at Sleep Number, said: “Our partnership with American Cancer Society directly supports our company’s purpose – to improve the health and well-being of society through higher quality sleep. We will utilize our 360 smart bed’s proprietary sleep data and sleep expertise, along with ACS’s tremendous body of research, to benefit cancer patients and survivors, and society at large. Cancer is undiscriminating – it affects everyone. Sleep is also universal. Our hope is that sleep guidelines will help to eradicate this devastating disease and improve millions of lives. We are honored to join ACS in the fight for a world without cancer.”