Woodville man Warren Jones initiates Sleep Foundation

Sleep Health Foundation New Zealand Trust chairwoman Shirley Hull and foundation trustee Warren Jones at the Australasian Sleep Association's Sleep Downunder Convention.

"Its been a dramatic outcome, it took me from being a zombie walking to the cliff to a reasonably productive individual in the space of 24 hours." - Warren Jones

Warren Jones from Woodville founded the New Zealand Sleep Health Foundation four years ago and is now a board member.

He had the idea that sleep and its impact on communities needed some support.

He had a sleep apnea problem.

"Here I was in my circumstances, it was just intuitively that I thought this might be a problem that other people are experiencing," Jones said.

"Out of that, the recognition dawned that it's bigger than one person. The dimensions of the problem, the scale and the economics of the whole sleep issue are so profound and large that it affects our entire economy.

"First, there needed to be a voice to get the message out. Second, there needed to be a seeking of those people who would have the credentials and mana to form a board to oversee all this work."

Board members are Prof Philippa Gander, Prof Alister Neill, Dr Alex Bartle, Dr Karyn O'Keeffe, Dr Andrew Davies, Elaine Reilly MBA, Shirley Hull, Jones and Dr Sarah-Jane Paine.

"Starting with Woodville Lions Club, the idea spread to East Coast Lions and was then adopted nationwide.

"The New Zealand Sleep Foundation was formed and grew out of the Woodville Lions' initiative. It took a year to link up the intellectual horsepower to put together a board. They were tasked with making people aware of the situation. It has taken three years to become properly established," said Jones.

"Its been a dramatic outcome, it took me from being a zombie walking to the cliff to a reasonably productive individual in the space of 24 hours.

"I had a lifetime experience of sleep disorder which can be terminal. The simple solution and the answer was revolutionary outcome. mine was a story wanting to be picked up," he said.

Prior to the formation of the Sleep Health Foundation, professionals were working in isolation.

"Its formation has given them a platform to bring information together," board member Hull, from Pahiatua, said.

"I got involved because I watched Warren's journey as my husband Neil is a Woodville Lions Club member. As an ex-member of the Central Primary Health Organisation and the Rural Health Alliance, health is something I've always been interested in. There is a link between bad sleep and mental health.

"I was interested to see the leaps and bounds Warren's health went in once he got his sleep under control. He's used the sleep apnea machine CPAP (continuous positive airways pressure) prescribed by the District Health Board free of charge," she said.

Australian research last year notified costs to the economy of nearly A$80 billion from sleep disorders. New Zealand's demographic is similar to Australia resulting in $12b of lost productivity.