tl;dr: We built a mobile app that helps people with insomnia get better sleep using psychology

**25 million Americans with chronic insomnia are getting inadequate and superficial care advice (e.g. cutting coffee, meditation etc.), when in reality, their sleep problems are often driven by deeper psychological challenges like unresolved anxiety. Stellar Sleep uses psychology to help these people break the insomnia cycle.**
—

Hi, we’re George and Edrei, the team behind Stellar Sleep

George was previously a manager at McKinsey, leading consulting teams with healthcare clients. His insomnia led to him quantifying his sleep for the last 7 years and making questionable life choices like wearing orange (blue-light blocking) goggles to evening social events.

Edrei was previously an engineering lead at Google, leading software teams across health and AI. His chronic insomnia led to him spending hundreds of dollars on brain wave scans and sleep tech, and wasting hundreds of hours browsing HN in the middle of the night.

So, why are we focusing on chronic insomnia? 🧐

Around 25 million Americans suffer from insomnia (can’t fall/stay asleep) for 3+ nights per week for 3 months or longer, which the medical community calls “chronic insomnia”. Unfortunately, people with chronic insomnia often receive inadequate care advice. They’re told to try cutting back on coffee, meditate more, or make their bedroom darker, when research shows that chronic insomnia is often rooted in deeper, psychological issues (e.g., financial anxiety, workplace stress…etc.).

The need for a solution is urgent. People with chronic insomnia are at a higher risk for mental health disorders (2x as likely), physical health issues (1.7x more likely to suffer from a heart attack), and decreased productivity in the workplace. A RAND study found that the economic cost of poor sleep in the U.S. was $411 billion a year, representing 2.3% of GDP. The situation has worsened since then, particularly with the increased stress and anxiety brought on by recent global events, and the shift to hybrid/remote work.

Here’s how one of our customers, Victoria, describes chronic insomnia in her own words:

I’ve had insomnia for about 5 years. I was at the point of desperation, willing to try anything. Insomnia feels very lonely. It’s 2am and your spouse is asleep. You’re very alone with your anxious thoughts. About the mortgage rates changing. About all the things you have to do tomorrow without any sleep. It feels like you’re trapped and alone.

After starting Stellar Sleep I’ve now started sleeping better for the first time in 5 years. I’ve gotten hope back that I can be normal. Most people who sleep well don’t worry about sleep. A good night’s sleep should just be normal.

Stellar Sleep uses psychology to help chronic insomniacs get their lives back💤

Stellar Sleep uses psychology to confront the real root causes of chronic insomnia. We start by understanding a person’s immediate sleep-related challenges and providing them with practical strategies for dealing with them. Then, we drill down on the underlying psychological drivers of a person’s chronic insomnia and create a personalized program to resolve those drivers one by one.

The first part of this process typically takes about three months, and the second part of this process can be a multi-year-long commitment. Participants spend 5-10 minutes per day completing modules in the Stellar Sleep app.

Our product works. We have strong clinical data (measured by ISI) showing best-in-class efficacy and have a year-long clinical study running with Harvard Medical School / Brigham & Women’s Hospital paid for by the State of Massachusetts and the US Department of Commerce.

We publicly launched Stellar Sleep last August and reached $1 million in ARR (annual run rate) within just 9 months, proving how much of a “hair on fire” problem this is for chronic insomniacs. We hear from our users that they're exhausted from receiving generic, superficial solutions that don’t work. Now, they’ve finally found a product that treats their chronic sleep issues with the gravity and seriousness it warrants.

Our asks

• Try out our chronic insomnia app if you have sleep issues (and share feedback with us using founders@stellarsleep.com)
• Share our website with anyone you know with sleep issues, and encourage them to take our quiz
• Please share this post (many people with sleep issues don’t talk about it)
• Connect us with benefits leaders at companies with 250+ employees and with regional health plans