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Discovery and Oura believe that the partnership will help South Africans take small steps to improve their sleeping habits.
As part of the partnership, Discovery is also launching a new dedicated sleep score through its Vitality programme, which leverages the group’s behavioural rewards model to incentivise a change in sleep habits.
The Oura rings, as well as other health tracking mechanisms, will be core the new focus.
Tom Hale, CEO of Oura, noted that the San Francisco-based company has a keen focus on health impacts, with the Oura ring specifically looking to improve sleep outcomes.
According to Oura head of corporate sales and development, Kate Weir, the gold standard for measuring sleep is polysonography (PSG).
This is typically measured overnight, monotoring subjects in clinical setting and assessing their brain data.
PSG also measures breathing patterns, eye movements, and other psychological signals. This method is usually complex, expensive, but can now be done via the Oura ring.
The ring measures sleep activity and then gives recommendations on how to improve this.
Weir said that Oura is the most scientifically-proven device for measuring sleep. She added that wearability is crucial, with people currently using the ring for about 21 hours per week.
The ring has a 98% accuracy on several medical monitoring data points, including heartbeat, she said.
The first generation of the ring came out in 2015, and the current fourth-generation has 14 sensing pathways, which can measure temperature, smart sensing and more.
Notably, the Oura ring is launching for the first time in South Africa through Discovery, with the system “going live” for clients on Tuesday (7 October).
The first batch of rings will be delivered to South Africa on Thursday (9 October), the group said.
Speaking to BusinessTech, Discovery Vitality CEO Dinesh Govendor said that the ring will only be available to Discovery Vitality and Discovery Health Medical Scheme Clients.
Govendor added that Discovery will not only cover the R8,600 cost of an Oura ring but also the subscription fee that Oura charges.
To qualify for the Discovery benefit, members will need to ensure that they wear the ring.
Govendor said that Discovery convinced Oura to come to the South African market, with the country admittedly low on the US company’s list of countries that it wanted to enter.
What Discovery’s Data says
Discovery is looking to improve sleep activity across its members in South Africa, with the company highlighting the financial and health benefits of regular sleep.
Discovery SA and Discovery Bank CEO Hylton Kallner noted that Discovery has 1.4 billion petabytes of member data, giving the company deep insights on health and a frame of reference for how it can improve benefits.
Specifically, the data shows how sleep affects all aspects of health and daily functioning, and how improving sleep habits can lead to better health outcomes.
Discovery analysed 47 million nights of sleep data across 105,000 members over a three-year study, finding that good sleep led to a 24% reduction in mortality and a 7% drop in in-hospital costs.
When it comes to things like driving, sufficient REM sleep (the deepest and most productive stage) results in better driving outcomes.
Conversely, insufficient REM sleep results in a 36% higher risk of motor-vehicle accidents.
Regarding financial habits, good sleep habits also result in better savings, debt management and overall economic health.
Despite this, sleep data continues to show that people globally are not spending enough time getting good sleep.
Discovery noted that 60% of US adults do not get enough sleep, while 40% struggle to fall asleep at least three times a week.
This lack of sleep leads to significant cognitive declines. For those who spend 17 to 19 hours awake, this is the same as having a blood-alcohol level of 0.05% – the legal driving limit.
A lack of sleep also leads to an immune disruption, increases cardiometabolic risk and mental health issues, the group said.
Discovery’s product changes
As part of its new focus on healthy sleeping habits, Discovery is introducing a new ‘Vitality Sleep Score’.
This is a new sleep metric calculated daily using sleep data from a member’s linked wearable device and through the Vitality Sleep Tracker for mobile phones.
The score will combine four key metrics:
- Sleep duration
- Regularity of sleep time
- Sufficiency of deep sleep
- Sufficiency of REM sleep
Each score is then personalised based on the member’s demographic profile and lifestyle.
As part of the tracking, the group is also introducing Vitality Sleep Rewards, which are designed to help members track, understand and improve their sleep via personalised goals and actionable insights.
Members will be given a dynamic weekly sleep goal tailored to their personal profile, with the goal set at a level that encourages behaviour change where needed.
Members will earn instant rewards for achieving their weekly sleep goals with a choice reward between partner rewards or Discovery Miles.
For Discovery Health, sleep health formation will be integrated into the personal health pathways (PHP) platform.
In 2026, Discovery Health will also collaborate with healthcare professionals by subsidising specialised training in sleep medicine.
Discovery believes there will be a R1.1 billion reduction in healthcare costs if all Discovery Health Medical Scheme members improve their sleep.
For Discovery Insure, Vitality Drive members will soon be able to earn points by engaging in sleep tracking, recording instances of adequate sleep and maintaining consecutive nights of quality rest.
This will allow members to earn more rewards within the Vitality Drive programme, while other programme elements will remain unchanged.
Vitality Drive clients may find it easier to attain Diamond status by incorporating sleep tracking, as these supplementary points are additive to existing point accumulation.
This can lead to higher-tier rewards and more fuel cash back rewards.
Issued on BusinessTech by Staff Writer | https://businesstech.co.za/news/technology/839265/discovery-bringing-major-international-brand-to-south-africa/
