Zeez Sleep Pebble featured on Women's Health: Breaking the Taboos
Hi, I’m Anna, co-founder and CEO of Zeez, and I am really chuffed that the Zeez Sleep Pebble is part of the Women's Health Breaking Taboos series on Channel 5.
Earlier this year, when I said "Yes" to the terrifying prospect of three strangers reviewing the Zeez Sleep Pebble after a very short period of use, I didn't realise it would feature on a series about busting taboos.
The tv programme focuses on health issues that affect huge numbers of women: fibroids, vaginal atrophy, painful periods. Grim topics, yet listening to the first of the two broadcasts, I felt lightness: a weight of silence lifted. Whatever else is going on in the world, I’m sensing a new openness around previously suppressed topics. Whether it’s male journalists discussing period poverty on news programmes, or advertisers mentioning the word ‘blood’ alongside their sanitary products, or a dawning recognition of the impact of the menopause on women’s lives, it seems to me that we’re emerging from old-world squeamishness into a place where we can discuss real things in a grown-up way.
In the same way, we now talk about our mental health, loneliness or neuro divergence without the fear of becoming the elephant in somebody else’s room. We’re not at the end of this revolution, perhaps not even at the end of the beginning, but we’re on our way to being more inclusive and open.
If we can talk with the expectation of being listened to, we can take charge of our own health. This was my fundamental wish, some years ago, when I began working on technology developed by my co-founder, Steve Walpole. It was all about sleep, and how poor sleep affects the deep layers of people’s lives, sometimes with devastating effect.
Zeez works on the principle that the patterns of the brain can be gently reset to let us fall into a healthy sleep cycle.
Every Zeez Sleep Pebble we make can transform the life of its user, their family and friends. We are making Pebbles now, ready to be part of the big change, and we are delighted at every success-story that feeds back to us.
We got the call back in the early months of 2022 from the researchers at the production company, Lambent. Would we like our product to be trialled on their ground-breaking broadcast. Who would say no to that? Yet it is scary to hand over your baby to strangers for two weeks, with no control over how they use or experience it, and simply wait for the results.
You can watch those results here.
What has happened to the three reviewers since the original trial? Viewers will see that they all slept much better. Jenny considered the Zeez a “miracle cure” and was astounded that it wasn’t Hannah and Julia’s first choice. They “liked it”, “thought it was good” and preferred the weighted blanket, which doesn’t have to be charged. Jenny thought that they hadn’t given the Zeez enough time - but they are doing now: all three users asked to keep the Zeez, which hadn’t been part of the original deal. We were delighted. Our Pebble works in a subtle way and other, more obvious sleep aids can sometimes steal its thunder. We’ll hopefully keep in touch with Hannah and Julia and see how they get on in a few months.
Thing is, none of these users are wrong. The Zeez Pebble has to fit into people’s lives, not the other way round. The Zeez works incredibly well for many of our users. For some, it works as part of wider lifestyle changes. For others, it brings gradual results over a period of months. For a very small minority, it has no benefit. As a small company with committed people behind the logo and the email address, we will always work with those people to try and discover why.
To learn more about our successes and challenges, take a look at our case studies. They are all from genuine customers, people living ordinary lives united by only one thing – the earnest desire for a good night’s sleep.
For me, this journey with Zeez is nowhere near ended. Bringing a brand-new product to market tests one’s mettle to the nth. “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work,” said Thomas Edison of the light bulb, his gift to the world. Every entrepreneur and inventor experiences failure, frustration and wrong turnings and the drive to succeed comes for much more than the lure of commercial success. As a serial non-sleeper myself from early childhood, I know how it affects life, ambition, education and relationships. I wanted to help me, myself.
I wanted to help others and while Zeez is an evolving creation, I’m the proud guardian of a growing list of customers who have discovered that what works for me, works for them.
They’ve rediscovered the simple joy of a good night’s sleep.
Please watch the programme, and let us know what you think. Send us your questions and if we take a day or two to reply, please know that last time we were on TV, the inbox flooded. We will be in touch. Meantime, wander around our website where there are many articles on the science of sleep, nutrition and a link to our previous TV moment on The Gadget Show.
Anna McKay