A woman taking part in celebrating sleep health week

Sleep Health Week (Australia): What It Is, How It's Celebrated, and How to Take Part

June 22, 2026

Sleep Health Week is Australia's national sleep awareness campaign — a week each August where workplaces, schools, community groups, health professionals, and households around the country put sleep on the agenda. It's run by the Sleep Health Foundation, Australia's peak sleep awareness body, and it has the same status in the AU health calendar that Heart Week and Mental Health Week hold for their respective causes. This guide is the evergreen reference: what Sleep Health Week is, who runs it, how it's celebrated each year, how to take part, and where to start reading if you want to do something about your own sleep — in August or any other month.

Sleep Health Week is Australia's national sleep awareness campaign, held annually in early August and run by Sleep Health Foundation. 2026 marks the 4th annual edition — 3–7 August 2026 — with the theme "Explore your sleep. Transform your days." Individuals, workplaces, schools, and community groups can take part through free public webinars, partner events, daily resources, and the year's theme-based content. This article is the year-round Koala reference: what the week is, how it's celebrated, the sleep topics it covers, and where to find practical Koala sleep content mapped to each.

Key Takeaways

Sleep Health Week is Australia's national sleep awareness campaign, held annually in early-to-mid August
Run by Sleep Health Foundation — a healthdirect partner and the peak AU sleep awareness body
2026 dates: Monday 3 August – Friday 7 August. 2026 theme: "Explore your sleep. Transform your days."
Free, public, Australia-wide. Individuals, workplaces, schools, and community groups can all take part
Recurring activities: free public webinars, daily content drops, downloadable posters, partner-run events, lived-experience storytelling, media outreach
This article is year-round — useful in August AND any other month for understanding the campaign and finding Koala sleep content mapped to its themes

What is Sleep Health Week?

Sleep Health Week is the Sleep Health Foundation's annual public awareness campaign dedicated to highlighting sleep's role in health, wellbeing, and daily performance. It brings together individuals, workplaces, schools, and community groups around a single theme each year — placing sleep on the same footing as nutrition and movement as a foundational pillar of health.

Established in 2023, 2026 marks the fourth annual edition. The campaign is free, public, and Australia-wide. There's no fee to participate, no membership requirement, and no geographic restriction — anyone in Australia can join in.

The week tends to follow a consistent shape. Sleep Health Foundation publishes a theme for the year, runs free public webinars across the five days, drops daily content and resources across its social channels and newsletter, and makes downloadable posters available for workplaces and community spaces. Partner organisations — health services, workplaces, schools, lifestyle media — build their own activities on top of that scaffolding.

For the latest information, the Sleep Health Foundation events page is the canonical source.

Who runs Sleep Health Week

Sleep Health Foundation is Australia's peak sleep awareness body and the publisher of widely-cited sleep factsheets, special reports, and clinical codes of practice. They're a recognised healthdirect partner, which means the Australian Government's national digital health service routes sleep-related queries to their resources.

Beyond Sleep Health Week, the Foundation:

Maintains the comprehensive factsheet library covering everything from sleep apnoea and insomnia to shift work and ageing
Publishes the Code of Practice for Sleep Care in Hospitals and the Code of Practice for CPAP Suppliers
Commissioned the Deloitte Access Economics 2021 update on the cost of inadequate sleep to Australia (~$51 billion in 2019–20)
Operates a Book a Speaker service for workplaces, schools, and community groups
Maintains a CPAP Directory for Australians managing sleep apnoea

In short, when an Australian sleep authority is needed for a research piece, a workplace wellbeing program, or a personal sleep question, Sleep Health Foundation is the source.

When is Sleep Health Week each year?

Sleep Health Week is held annually in early-to-mid August. The exact dates shift slightly year-on-year — typically a full Monday-to-Friday week:

2025: 11 August – 15 August (theme: "Sleep: The Lifelong Superpower")
2026: 3 August – 7 August (theme: "Explore your sleep. Transform your days.")
2027 and beyond: Confirmed by Sleep Health Foundation closer to the event — usually announced 3–6 months ahead

We refresh this article each year with the next confirmed dates and theme. For the most up-to-date information, the Sleep Health Foundation events page is the canonical source.

How Sleep Health Week is celebrated each year

The campaign follows a recurring pattern that's worth understanding whether you're considering participating for the first time or planning a workplace activation:

Free public webinars. Sleep Health Foundation and its partners typically run one webinar per day across the week. Topics align to the year's theme, presenters are AU sleep clinicians, researchers, and lived-experience advocates, and recordings are usually made available afterwards. Sign up to the Sleep Health Foundation newsletter to receive webinar invites in the lead-up.

Daily content drops. Across the week, Sleep Health Foundation publishes evidence-based information, practical tips, and resources across its social channels (Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, YouTube) and the newsletter. Each day tends to focus on a different angle of the year's theme.

The annual theme. Each Sleep Health Week is built around a single theme that gives the week focus. 2025's "Sleep: The Lifelong Superpower" emphasised sleep's role across every life stage; 2026's "Explore your sleep. Transform your days." emphasises observation as the starting point and small daily changes as the outcome.

Downloadable posters. Sleep Health Foundation publishes posters in light and dark variants for the year — designed for workplaces, schools, community health centres, and any shared space wanting to mark the week visibly.

Partner-run events. Workplaces book speakers, run lunch-and-learns, and screen webinars in shared spaces. Schools build sleep into the week's curriculum or assemblies. Health centres host info sessions. Lifestyle media run sleep coverage during the week. The Sleep Health Foundation partnership channel — admin@sleephealthfoundation.org.au — handles partnership inquiries year-round.

Lived-experience storytelling. Sleep Health Foundation amplifies the voices of Australians living with sleep disorders, working night shifts, or facing other sleep challenges, lifting the conversation beyond clinical framing into real-life context.

Media outreach. Sleep Health Foundation experts appear across AU print, broadcast, and digital media during the week, lifting public awareness of sleep as a health priority alongside nutrition and movement.

Past themes and what they covered

Each year's theme gives the week a focal point. A short reference list of recent editions:

2026 — "Explore your sleep. Transform your days." (per the official Sleep Health Foundation 2026 event page). Observation as the starting point: track your sleep, audit your environment, look at your daytime habits — then make small daily changes that compound. The theme moves away from prescriptive "you need eight hours" messaging and towards personal sleep literacy.
2025 — "Sleep: The Lifelong Superpower." (per the official Sleep Health Foundation 2025 event page). Sleep's role across every life stage, from infants to older adults — and the experiences of "sleep superheroes" who champion sleep awareness or live with sleep challenges.
Earlier editions (2023, 2024) — same campaign foundation, different theme focal points building Sleep Health Week's profile as Australia's national sleep awareness moment. See the Sleep Health Foundation events index for the campaign archive.

The underlying message is consistent across themes: sleep is a foundational pillar of health, and Australians benefit when individuals, workplaces, and health systems all treat it that way.

Sleep Health Week ≠ World Sleep Day ≠ Safe Sleep Week

Three different campaigns Australians sometimes confuse — worth distinguishing so you find the right resource for your question:

Sleep Health Week (this article) — Sleep Health Foundation, Australia, early August, adult/general sleep awareness. The campaign that runs nationally each year for five days.

World Sleep Day — World Sleep Society, global, typically March, single-day global sleep awareness event. Distinct organiser, different date, different scope. Australian Sleep Health Foundation usually participates in World Sleep Day too — but it's a separate calendar item from Sleep Health Week.

Safe Sleep Week — Red Nose Australia, focused specifically on infant safe sleep practices (reducing sudden unexpected death in infancy). If you're looking for guidance on safe sleep for babies, Red Nose's Safe Sleep Week is the relevant resource — not Sleep Health Week. Our how much sleep do kids need by age guide is a complementary read for general kids' sleep needs.

All three campaigns are worthwhile. Picking the right one for your question saves time and gets you to the most useful resource.

The sleep topics that come up every year — and where to start

Sleep Health Week's themes shift year-on-year, but the underlying topics it covers are consistent. Here's a topic-by-topic map of those themes to Koala sleep content that goes deeper — useful as a reference any time of year, not just in August.

Sleep across life stages. Sleep needs change across childhood, adolescence, adulthood, pregnancy, menopause, and older age. Start here:

Sleep hygiene basics. The everyday habits that shape sleep quality — bedtime routine, screen use, caffeine timing, alcohol, daylight exposure:

Sleep environment. Bedroom temperature, light, noise, mattress, pillow, bedding:

Sleep conditions and disorders. Persistent issues that benefit from professional help rather than habit changes alone:

Sleep and natural rhythms. The body clock, melatonin, light exposure, and circadian timing:

Sleep and work. Shift work, on-call expectations, workplace wellbeing — particularly relevant for the workplace-activation angle of Sleep Health Week:

Sleep and mental health. The two-way relationship between sleep and mental wellbeing:

Sleep Health Foundation — Mental Health & Sleep
healthdirect mental health resources for further reading

Sleep foundation — the literal bedroom kit. If Sleep Health Week (or any other moment) makes you look at your bedroom setup and realise the mattress, pillow, or bed base is part of the problem, our Koala mattress range, Koala Pillow [2nd Gen], and Koala bed bases are designed to be part of the fix — backed by our 120-day trial.

How to take part — individuals, workplaces, schools, community groups

Practical participation paths. Most of these work in the lead-up to Sleep Health Week each August, but several work any time of year.

For individuals.

Subscribe to the Sleep Health Foundation newsletter for upcoming events and webinar invites
Follow Sleep Health Foundation on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, or YouTube
Attend the free webinars during the week — recordings stay accessible afterwards
Pick a focus area from the topic map above and spend a week or month on it — the framework works any time, with or without an official event running
Download the year's poster (when published) and put it somewhere visible

For workplaces.

Book a Sleep Health Foundation speaker — the Book a Speaker page accepts requests year-round
Stream the week's free webinars in shared spaces (lunch-and-learn, all-hands, wellbeing channels)
Run a sleep-friendly schedule audit — shift patterns, on-call expectations, after-hours email norms
Share Sleep Health Foundation factsheets internally — particularly the Workplace Health, Safety & Wellbeing and Shift Work categories
Partner with Sleep Health Foundation directly — email admin@sleephealthfoundation.org.au for partnership inquiries

For schools.

Build sleep into assembly talks, health curriculum, or year-level workshops during Sleep Health Week
Use Sleep Health Foundation's Children, Adolescents & Parents resources
Combine with general sleep needs context from our how much sleep do kids need by age guide

For community groups.

Host an info session using the week's resources
Distribute Sleep Health Foundation factsheets at community health events
Partner with local GP practices or community health centres to amplify the week's messaging

When sleep problems need more than a habit reset

Sleep Health Week is a great prompt for change, but persistent sleep problems need professional help. Per healthdirect and Sleep Health Foundation guidance, see your GP if:

Insomnia persists for more than three weeks
You suspect sleep apnoea — loud snoring with daytime sleepiness, gasping or pauses in breathing
Restless legs disrupting sleep regularly
Daytime sleepiness affecting work, study, or driving safety
Mental health symptoms appearing alongside sleep changes — low mood, anxiety, racing thoughts at night
Sleep changes during pregnancy or menopause that don't ease with environment changes

For 24/7 health advice, the healthdirect helpline is available on 1800 022 222 (NURSE-ON-CALL in Victoria). For sleep-specific support, Sleep Health Foundation's CPAP Directory and full factsheet library are AU authority resources, free to access.

Sleep Health Week is a great prompt — but sleep matters every week

The campaign's strength is the moment of attention it creates each August. The underlying message, though, is everyday. Whether you're reading this in the lead-up to Sleep Health Week or in January, the topic map above is here as a year-round companion — useful for workplaces planning a wellbeing program, schools building sleep into curriculum, individuals working through their own sleep questions, and lifestyle media looking for AU-authority sleep context.

Sleep Health Foundation runs the national campaign. We run a sleep brand. The shared interest is helping Australians sleep better — every week of the year, not just one.

A foundation worth investing in

If reading this — during Sleep Health Week or any other time — prompts you to look at your sleep setup and realise the mattress, pillow, or bed base is part of the problem, our Koala mattress range covers entry-tier through luxury, our Koala Pillow [2nd Gen] offers zip-adjustable firmness, and our Koala bed bases are designed for Koala mattress compatibility. All backed by our 120-day trial. To compare in person, visit our Koala Moore Park Showroom in Sydney.

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