From Scientific Knowledge to Public Value

Sleep has moved from a specialist topic to a central determinant of public health, mental and physical health, learning, recovery, safety and productivity. Around one in three people in Switzerland report moderate to severe sleep problems, yet the main gap is no longer a lack of scientific knowledge. It is the limited translation of that knowledge into the systems that shape sleep in everyday life. Clinical routines, schools, workplaces, technologies, public communication and policy all influence whether sleep is protected or undermined. At the same time, contradictory advice and device-generated metrics can create confusion and unhealthy pressure to optimise sleep, while effective evidence-based care, including first-line treatments for insomnia, remains underused or difficult to access. These are different expressions of the same structural problem: high-quality knowledge exists, but it is not yet consistently integrated into public understanding, practice and decision-making.

The Sleep Health Alliance Zurich (SHAZ) is a scientifically led, neutral and non-commercial network connecting researchers and clinicians from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, University Hospital Zurich, University Psychiatric Hospital Zurich and University Children’s Hospital Zurich. It brings together expertise across basic sleep and circadian science, neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, neurology, pulmonology, paediatrics, engineering and data science, reflecting the complexity of sleep itself. SHAZ strengthens scientific exchange across institutions, makes Zurich’s exceptional sleep expertise visible and accessible, and supports the responsible translation of robust evidence into healthcare, education, work, public communication and policy. In this way, SHAZ links scientific excellence to the everyday systems that determine sleep health, while safeguarding scientific integrity and avoiding commercial bias. Its long-term vision is to establish sleep science and sleep health as an enduring, evidence-based pillar of medicine, public health and society.