Beter Bed Holding’s CEO John Kruijssen calls on industry to join movement and raise public awareness about importance of quality of sleep

EBIA members collectively sign Sleep Manifesto to raise public sleep awareness

The quality of sleep is under pressure: while adults need an average of seven to eight hours of sleep for optimum health and well-being, more than 1 out of 3 people get less than six hours of sleep every night. This can have major consequences, for example fatigue is the main cause of driver errors in 20% of road accidents. Moreover, insufficient sleep leads to chronic health problems, such as diabetes, obesity, heart diseases and strokes. In order to address these major issues and to raise awareness about the importance of a good quality of sleep, Beter Bed Holding’s CEO, John Kruijssen, made an appeal to the industry to co-sign the Sleep Manifesto at the 23rd EBIA General Assembly in Copenhagen.

EBIA - the European Bedding Industries’ Association - represents the interests of European mattress producers and suppliers. Mattress producers, innerspring companies, textile industries, as well as PU foam and latex suppliers and representatives of the chemical industry from all over Europe were present at the EBIA General Assembly. John Kruijssen, CEO of Beter Bed Holding, appealed to the community to sign the Sleep Manifesto, referring to results of scientific research on sleep that has increased knowledge about sleep dramatically in the past years. “What if we could address prevention and improve the quality of sleep and therefore lower overall healthcare costs and increase productivity? The quality of sleep has a significant impact on productivity. In the Netherlands alone, productivity loss is estimated to equate to 1.5% to 3% of GDP per year, which is equivalent somewhere between 13 and 26 billion euro,” stated Kruijssen. “There are a lot of other major issues that we, as the European industry, need to address in order for consumers to sleep better, and therefore, live healthier, or I should say, sleep better, live better.”

Wake-up call
With the aim of helping consumers to get a better night's rest, Beter Bed launched the Sleep Manifesto earlier this month, with the aim to raise sleep awareness and improve sleep. Sleep deprivation can affect our body, brain and life expectancy. Matthew Walker, an internationally renowned sleep scientist and author of 'Why We Sleep' and TEDx speaker with more than 16 million views, recognised this problem and supported the Manifesto with his first signature. “If 50 to 60% of the entire population were to get more sleep, it would save millions of euros in healthcare spending,” said Walker while signing the Manifesto.

At the EBIA, Kruijssen called on the industry to follow in Walker’s footsteps in order to put the importance of better sleep on the agenda. The aim is to encourage better sleep behaviour and provide more information to address this social problem. “Because of the lack of awareness of the benefits of healthy sleep, multisectoral public health campaigns are needed to educate the public about the importance of sleep and the consequences of insufficient sleep,” Kruijssen stated. “Our mission is simple. We believe that the better we sleep, the happier, healthier and more productive we are. And we won’t rest until everyone gets the high-quality sleep they deserve”.

Beter Bed believes and promises that everyone can sleep better and does everything to fulfil this promise to increase public awareness of the importance of sleep, through its own platforms, but also through ambassadors and its network of specialists and scientists. Beter Bed has developed a set of innovative solutions, such as Beter Slapen ID, a measuring system that allows it to offer customers objective data-driven sleep advice. All with the aim of providing our employees and consumers with information on how to sleep better.

About Beter Bed Holding
Beter Bed Holding (BBH) is the Netherlands’ leading sleep specialist in retail, wholesale and B2B.

Our mission is simple. We believe that the better we sleep, the happier, healthier and more productive we are. And we won’t rest until everyone gets the high-quality sleep they deserve.

Listed on Euronext Amsterdam, BBH operates the successful retail brands Beter Bed, Beddenreus, the new subscription brand Leazzzy and the digital organisation LUNEXT. In addition, through its subsidiary DBC International, BBH has a wholesale business in branded products in the bedroom furnishings sector, which includes the well-known international brand M line.

With 4 distribution centres, a fleet of 80 vehicles, 134 stores, a fast-growing online presence, and a wholesale company our team of over 1,000 dedicated employees generated € 214.2 million revenue in 2021.

Providing expert sleep advice is at the very heart of our strategy, and thanks to our revolutionary ‘Beter Slapen ID’ tool, our sleep consultants help customers to get the perfect night’s sleep. BBH is proud that M line is the official sleep supplier of AFC Ajax, TeamNL, Jumbo-Visma, NOC*NSF and the KNVB.

For more information
Press enquiries: Uneke Dekkers / CFF Communications
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• press release 16-9-2022