How it all started

This all started 10 years ago. Leon (Rise Co-founder and CTO) and I were in engineering school together. We'd be up late and up early. We felt exhausted waking up. We were tired all day. We drank coffee, exercised, meditated, tried everything we could find to stay awake. If you went to college, tiredness was normal. In fact, it still is "normal". 72% of people self-report to feeling tired multiple days per week.

Feeling miserably tired didn't sit right. Is being a lesser version of yourself a reality we were just supposed to accept? That every day we're going to feel terrible, struggle to stay awake and be present?

We did what we thought was normal: we started taking independent studies in sleep science. Sidebar: Leon and I were fortunate to be designing our own engineering degrees so we had the freedom to do independent studies with well-known sleep scientists.

What we realized was that our sleep wasn't just about tiredness. It was much, much more than tiredness. I'd argue that our sleep is the highest impact, most cost-effective, accessible lever we have in our lives to extend our longevity and improve our daily life experience. Just so you don't call for my head, sleep isn't the only lever that matters. What we eat, how we move, and our mental health matter a lot too. Sleep just matters more. It's science.

Sleep as a drug

Think about sleep as a drug that, if you remembered to take it most days, you'd live longer; you'd be protected against the major chronic diseases; you'd be less likely to die from cancers, neurodegenerative disease, and metabolic disease.

Not only would you live longer, but within days of taking this drug, you'd live better. Your cognitive and emotional skills would improve; you'd be more empathetic, positive, focused, insightful and creative; you'd learn better and have an improved memory; anxiety and depression would decrease.

Also, your body would function better; you wouldn't get sick as often; your skin would look healthier; your metabolism would increase; you wouldn't crave unhealthy snacks as often.

[Puts up hands] We were skeptical of the breadth and legitimacy of these benefits too. But it turns out we started studying sleep in 1925 in Chicago. That's nearly 100 years of science. The body of research is enormous, deep, and clear. There's more to learn, but we know so much.

Helping people sleep