Helping Young People Build Lifelong Healthy Sleep Habits
How nib foundation and Black Dog Institute expanded the reach and impact of Sleep Ninja®
Good sleep is one of the simplest ways young people can protect their physical and mental health. Yet many adolescents struggle with irregular routines, late night screen use and stress — all of which can disrupt sleep.
That’s why nib foundation partnered with Black Dog Institute to strengthen and scale Sleep Ninja®, opens in a new tab, a digital and now school based approach helping young people understand their sleep patterns and build healthier habits.
After supporting the initial development and launch of Sleep Ninja®, our partnership over the past two years has delivered impact on two fronts: growing national uptake of the Sleep Ninja® app, and developing and piloting Sleep Ninja® for the Classroom, a curriculum aligned sleep education program for Years 7–8.
Reaching more young people through the Sleep Ninja® app
Since its launch in 2023, more than 21,000 people have used Sleep Ninja®, including 7,000 adolescents aged 12-16. This is supported by high engagement from parents, educators and health professionals, who increasingly helped young people discover and use the app.
The app continues to demonstrate measurable health benefits, with 76% app users reporting a reduction in insomnia symptoms, supporting healthier sleep patterns and daily functioning.
Sleep Ninja® uptake has also reinforced the value of an accessible digital tool for communities with fewer local health services, with one third of all users living in regional or remote areas.
Targeted marketing helped extend the app’s reach, trialling new channels to reach young people in their own spaces, such as TikTok, Spotify and Snapchat, alongside parent focused campaigns on Meta (Facebook). Together, these strategies broadened the program’s audience and ensured consistent messaging about sleep as a cornerstone of wellbeing.
Bringing sleep education into the classroom
With nib foundation’s support, Black Dog Institute also designed and piloted Sleep Ninja® for the Classroom—a curriculum aligned program combining interactive activities, focused teaching and practical behaviour change strategies.
During the 2024 pilot, 500 Year 7–8 students across four schools participated in the program. Personal Development Health and Physical Education teachers delivered the lessons using a full suite of new teaching materials and resources. Meanwhile parents and carers received complementary evidence-informed sleep information to reinforce habits at home.
The results were clear:
63% of students improved their sleep knowledge,
83% said the lessons changed how they think about sleep, and
over two-thirds of students intended to adopt behaviours such as consistent bed/wake times, daily exercise and getting morning daylight.
Students also reported small shifts in behaviour that can have big impact in sleep quality, such as going to bed earlier on school nights and waking earlier on weekends. Teachers strongly endorsed the program, with 100% reporting they found the resources useful, and intended to use it again.
Why this matters for prevention Sleep sits at the intersection of mental health, cognitive performance and chronic disease risk. Helping young people build evidence-based sleep routines early in life supports mental and emotional wellbeing and reduces long term risk factors around sleep that are associated with not only mental health conditions but heart health and metabolic function as well. By focusing on sleep, these two projects highlight an often overlooked pillar of chronic disease prevention for young people. The app helps adolescents practise healthier routines day to day, while the classroom program embeds sleep literacy and practical strategies early, a combination that supports better long-term health trajectories. This partnership has grown national access to a free, evidence backed resource while equipping young people, teachers and families with the tools they need to support healthier sleep.
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