Inside the Launch of Sleep Health Europe: Watch the Video
How a new EU coalition is putting sleep on Europe’s health agenda.
By Sleep Health Europe
On 5 March 2026, Sleep Health Europe launched in Brussels with an event that brought together doctors, scientists, MEPs, European Commission officials and industry partners to put sleep on Europe’s health agenda.
The case for action is clear: 45% of Europeans report serious problems sleeping, 80% of people with sleep disorders are not even aware they have one, and poor sleep costs the EU up to 3% of GDP each year. Yet sleep is barely featured in a single EU health policy. Sleep Health Europe was created to close that gap.
This short video distils the day into 90 seconds: the scale of the problem, the voices calling for change, and the priorities the coalition will pursue in the year ahead. It features contributions from MEP Tomislav Sokol on the lack of political visibility for sleep, Kristian Schmidt (Director for Land Transport, European Commission, DG MOVE) welcoming the coalition’s launch, and clinical and scientific voices from across the panel and roundtable.
The coalition confirmed three priorities for the year ahead:
- Sleep literacy and awareness, positioning sleep as the third pillar of health alongside nutrition and physical activity.
- Embedding sleep in the EU Safe Hearts Plan, ensuring it is recognised as a modifiable cardiovascular risk factor.
- Strengthening NCD screening and prevention pathways, so that no patient waits a year for a sleep diagnosis.
If your organisation works at the intersection of sleep and public health, or if you would like to support our work, we would welcome a conversation. Get in touch at info@sleephealtheurope.eu.
