International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) is engaged in an unprecedented partnership with SleepScore Labs, a specialist in data-backed sleep solutions, to create and validate products designed to support healthier lives through improved sleep.
The initiative is groundbreaking in the world of consumer sleep products, where mostly anecdotal evidence abounds around sleep improvement products, rather than scientific proof.
Scent, specifically, has significant potential as a non-invasive, non-addicting means of supporting sleep.
"This partnership marks a strategic decision by IFF to extend our leadership in the 'beyond sensorial market," said Nicolas Mirzayantz, IFF's Divisional CEO, Scent.
The partnership will build on IFF's consumer and sensory science knowledge and SleepScore's best-in-class data capture and analysis capability to deliver validated scent-based sleep solutions for consumers.
Sleep fragrance under development
With over 70% of the population impacted by poor sleep, and the resulting adverse effects on overall health and productivity, IFF recognised that SleepScore Labs was uniquely positioned to help them identify the most promising scent ingredients to test, and support those findings with more robust scientific field research.
Since 2018, both companies have been collaborating on a sleep fragrance, and since then, have gathered over 6,500 nights of objective sleep data together.
As the first step in this collaboration, SleepScore clinically tested an initial scent creation prototype – a pillow spray -- specifically designed to support healthy sleep.
Results of the counter-balanced, double-blind, placebo-controlled study revealed that the scent provided the greatest benefit to healthy sleepers.
Objective sleep measurement showed that participants spent 26% less time awake at night after falling asleep when they used the scent.
These scientifically-proven results support the development of new product categories designed to help consumers sleep better.
To obtain the insights, SleepScore Labs scientists conducted a study to test the effectiveness of a scented pillow spray over 800 nights, taking both self-reported data and objective sleep measures every night.
Objective sleep measures, critical to understanding the potential value scented products have on sleep, were collected using SleepScore technology powered by ResMed, a pioneering authority on innovative medical devices that help people lead healthier, higher-quality lives.
"IFF's approach sets a great example of how cross-disciplinary sleep innovation should ideally be managed," said Dr Roy Raymann, Chief Scientific Officer at SleepScore Labs.
"By combining our expertise in objectively validating sleep products, with IFF's deep knowledge of fragrances and ingredients, together we can ultimately help consumers get a better night's sleep," he concluded.