Philips and Sleep

Sleep management and respiratory care, a cornerstone of Philips’ Home Healthcare business

Philips Home Healthcare provides innovative solutions for the home that connect patients to their healthcare providers and support independent living for seniors and the chronically ill. Philips’ position in the home healthcare market was significantly strengthened with the acquisition of Respironics, a leading provider of innovative solutions for the global sleep and respiratory markets.

With a history of over thirty years and a track-record of innovation, Respironics brought its expertise on sleep and respiration to Philips’ home healthcare portfolio, and the benefits of ensuring that both can work in tandem to deliver quality rest, and from this, a better quality of life.

Philips holds leading positions in the fast-growing areas of sleep management, respiratory care and non-invasive ventilation. Philips also provides solutions for patients who suffer from chronic respiratory diseases by offering a broad range of oxygen, ventilation and monitoring products to help clinicians manage respiratory diseases in a transitional care or home environment.

Philips markets its products through sleep and home respiratory, hospital, and international sales organizations. These consist of direct and independent sales representatives and sales management personnel who sell to a network of over 5,000 medical product service providers (commonly referred to as “homecare providers”) and distributors and, in some cases, directly to hospitals and other institutions. The company also rents certain products to homecare providers and, in limited cases, directly to end-users.

Philips, a global leader in treating obstructive sleep apnea

Philips is a global leader in treating obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition in which the airways collapse repeatedly during sleep, preventing proper respiration. The impact of OSA can be snoring, gasping, or choking during the night. Philips leverages its core expertise in treating Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) to develop innovative solutions for the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of other sleep disorders.

One of our best-known products helps relieve sufferers of their OSA-related symptoms. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices provide a steady and gentle flow of air into the nose or mouth to keep open the airway throughout the night. Using these devices, sufferers experience a much more restful night’s sleep with results often being seen quite quickly. Philips also makes a wide range of face masks which not only ensure the CPAP machine delivers its intended results but also provide the user with a much more comfortable experience.

Our sleep therapy products are designed to encourage patients’ acceptance of OSA therapy through increased comfort. The end result is improved sleep and, ultimately, improved quality of life.

Philips in the broader sleep market

Philips is also venturing beyond its core obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) business into the broader sleep market, which encompasses the millions of people who suffer from undiagnosed and untreated sleep and sleep-related movement disorders such as insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, or restless legs syndrome. Philips is working to identify and provide solutions for millions of “problem sleepers” who may not have a specific sleep disorder like the chronic snorer or people who have difficulty falling asleep only occasionally. Philips seeks to offer sleep professionals, clinicians and their patients solutions that help to improve quality of life through quality sleep. Examples are Actiwatch® a device designed to monitor sleep-wake patterns over time and help assess multiple sleep disorders,

Light has a significant impact on sleep – a global leader in lighting solutions, Philips has also used its lighting expertise to help people improve the quality of their sleep or re energize during the day, leading to a good night’s rest. A successful example of this is the Philips Wake-Up Light that gradually increases the amount of light in a bedroom so that people can start the day with as much energy as they would have on a sunny morning.

Over the years, dozens of studies have shown the effects and potential benefits of light therapy for helping those with mood, sleep and energy problems. Philips recently introduced goLITEBLU that emits blue light - researchers have shown that blue light is converted into the chemicals which help our bodies be active and energetic and may lead to better sleep in the evening.

Researching lifestyle and its impact on sleep

Philips is exploring opportunities to enhance people’s well-being by improving their sleep quality and experience. In the lifestyle domain, Philips can add value with medication-free solutions that contribute to enjoyable sleep. These could be solutions that optimize environments (for example; undisturbed partners or parents, elderly etc), monitoring and feedback, or coaching (such as stress relief through biofeedback) to improve sleep. Philips is investigating lifestyle solutions that could help people quickly recover from insufficient sleep, by optimization of the four factors for sleep:

1. Environment

• Create an optimal microclimate; noise reduction, lighting, temperature. For enjoyable wake and sleep experience.

2. Body

• Healthy eating and sufficient exercise are factors that can improve the quality of sleep

3. Mind

• Based on Philips’ core competences in human perception and behavior, combined with its know-how in sensors and actuator technologies, Philips is assessing solutions to unobtrusively affect feelings and positively influence their mood. This will help to clear the mind and achieve pure relaxation.

4. Behavior

• Often a pedantic approach to sleep hygiene therapy can be taken, suggesting restrictive measures to educate people regarding how they can improve their personal sleep: don’t go to bed too late, don’t drink too much coffee, don’t watch TV in your bedroom etc. Encouraging people to be disciplined about their sleep and adopt a healthier ‘sleep’ lifestyle can help them to achieve a better work/life/sleep balance.