Before seeking an adult sleep coach, Thorsten spent countless hours trawling online advice. 'I devoured advice and implemented it all,' he said. 'From the moment I got out of bed, virtually everything I did was tailored towards getting a good night's sleep the following night.' Despite his efforts, he experienced inexplicable periods of waking at 4.30am, affecting his work and mood. A colleague suggested a sleep coach, revealing a 'hidden world' he never knew existed.
Stuart Thompson, founder of the Still Method, started his sleep consultancy for adults two years ago after adults began requesting sleep training. 'I'd never seen people like this before: a cohort who had never struggled with sleep previously but were unable to help themselves, despite spending considerable time researching all tricks of the trade,' he said. Katie Fischer, a sleep consultant in London, has also seen business boom. 'People come to me saying: “I've got perfect sleep hygiene; I do everything right but I'm still not sleeping.” We help them cut through the online ocean of advice,' she said.
Kerry Davies, known as the Sleep Fixer, said sleep coaches look at clients' entire 24 hours, including habits, mindsets and daily stressors. She encourages clients to step away from online advice and sleep trackers, which can increase anxiety. Amy Cheseldine of the Good Sleep Method added that personal coaches succeed by holding clients to account. 'People often understand what to do but fail to apply it consistently – or they do loads of things but miss the one small thing that will really help,' she said.
UK data shows the scale of the problem: the average adult reports just three days a week of good-quality sleep, with 14% saying they don't get enough to function on any day. Fischer highlighted common misinformation, such as the insistence on eight hours of sleep or that early bedtimes always help. Thorsten needed only one session with a coach to realise he was 'simply going' about it the wrong way.
