Co-founder of The Huffington Post, founder and CEO of Thrive Global; author of Thrive and The Sleep Revolution, written after she collapsed from exhaustion in 2007
SleepFocus & work8 ideas
Her own routine and Thrive’s Microsteps; none of the lines needs Thrive’s app
Checked 18 Oct 2026. Each line is in our own words, with where it was said and an independent study or guideline next to it. Ties: Her company Thrive Global sells habit-change programmes, coaching and an AI app to employers; it has sold a phone-charging “bed” and backs Thrive AI Health.
The blueprint, line by line
Habit
The phone sleeps outside the bedroom: devices off at a set time, charging in another room
Mixed evidence · A 4-week randomised pilot with 38 adults: no phone in the last 30 minutes before bed meant falling asleep sooner and sleeping longer. Small; surveys tie texting and calls after lights-out to worse sleep (Exelmans 2016). Keeping the phone in another room is untested Research
Costs: no money; a charger in the kitchen or the hall and an alarm clock. She says: if seven nights is hard, start with one
Habit
Wind-down alarm 30 minutes before bed, then your bedtime ritual: a hot bath or shower, clothes kept for sleep, no devices
Mixed evidence · The bath is the best-supported part: in a meta-analysis a 40 to 42.5 °C bath or shower 1 to 2 hours before bed brought sleep about 10 minutes sooner. The alarm, the sleep clothes and the rest of the ritual are her own practice, not studied Research
Costs: 30 minutes in the evening; no money beyond what you have (she adds Epsom salts, a candle, chamomile tea)
Guideline · AASM and SRS consensus: 7 hours or more for adults. Her 8 sits inside the 7 to 9 hours she cites herself. She keeps the hours, not fixed clock times, which differs from Walker’s regular wake-up time Research
Costs: 8 hours in bed or a little more; no money
Habit
First minute of the day without the phone: breathe, set an intention, think of what you’re grateful for
Their own practice · Her own morning step; nothing tests one minute. The nearest trial: 5 minutes of slow breathing a day for a month lifted mood more than mindfulness did (108 adults). Thrive’s “reset from stress in 60 to 90 seconds” is a company claim I could not trace to a study Research
Costs: one minute, no money; easiest when the phone slept in another room
For your blueprint
Every few hours, or between meetings, stop for a 60-second reset: breathe and let the tension go
Mixed evidence · A meta-analysis of 22 studies: breaks of 10 minutes or less gave a small lift in energy and less fatigue, but no clear gain in performance, and longer breaks helped more. One minute on its own is untested Research
Costs: a minute a few times a day; no app needed (Thrive sells one, called Reset)
For your blueprint
Declare an end to the workday, even with the to-do list unfinished, and mark it (she puts her phone on its charger)
Mixed evidence · A meta-analysis of 91 samples (38,124 employees): switching off from work in free time goes with less exhaustion and better sleep. All correlational; the declaration itself is untested Research
Costs: no money; a set moment, not a set time (hers moves day to day)
For your blueprint
After a crunch, take recovery time back: a few hours or a day once the deadline is met, not saved up for the holiday
Mixed evidence · A meta-analysis of 7 studies: holidays help a little, but the effect fades soon after work resumes; one study saw burnout back at its old level within three weeks. Regular recovery is the point of Sonnentag’s research; time back after a deadline is untested Research
Costs: a few hours to a day after each crunch; needs an employer or a calendar that allows it
Mixed evidence · Four experiments: walking, inside or out, raised creative idea generation while walking and shortly after, but not finding a single right answer. Walking meetings themselves are untested Research
Costs: no money; works best with two people, three at most (her words)
How to use this
Don't take all of it. Pick one or two lines that fit your week, try them for two weeks, and keep what works for you. That's what Vea is for: a weekly check-in that shows what each habit does for you.
Not an endorsement: these are our short summaries of what each person has published, with a link to the source. They have no connection to Vea. Ideas to try, not medical advice. On this list and want off? [email protected]