Insomnia blighted Richard Sharp’s life. He might sleep for a restful six hours — or just two. Sometimes he would stay awake all night.
That changed two years ago when he downloaded Headspace, a meditation app that promises to increase focus and productivity, as well as sleep. It was provided free by his employer, Aviva, the insurer. “I hadn’t heard of it before. I’ve always been quite cynical about stuff like this. When you’re younger you think, ‘I don’t need all this to make myself feel better.’”
The app’s sleepcast, a guided meditation, was “more effective” than he expected. Mr Sharp is almost always asleep before it finishes. Out of a UK workforce of 16,000, about 2,000 Aviva employees use the app regularly (three to four times a week), predominantly to wind down and to help them sleep.