Introducing our sleep experts
Let's take a closer look at our team of international sleep experts.
Andrew Green 🇬🇧
Sleep Therapist
Andrew Green is an occupational therapist who has specialised in adult sleep and sleep problems since 1999; he remained attached to a sleep clinic until 2016.
Based in Bristol in the UK, he now has a private practice working with people with insomnia through Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I).
Since 2020, he has also been providing sleep coaching to clients worldwide.
His practice is based on the following premises: First, that sleep is an essential natural process and one for which we should allocate sufficient time, and second, that intervention to improve it should be based on scientific evidence.
Walter Braun 🇩🇪
Mattress Expert
Walter Braun is a mattress and ergonomics expert.
Originally from Munich, Walter shares his tips on ergonomic alignment and healthy sleeping with partners from across the globe, training mattress consultants and offering courses for doctors and physiotherapists.
He's also owned his own mattress shop for decades and has hands-on experience recommending the best sleep products for various people.
Walter swears that healthy sleep is the most important thing for our physical and mental well-being, with every part of our sleep setup - from mattress to frame, pillow, and blanket - playing a vital role.
Working with doctors, he knows that many aches and pains are actually related to misaligned sleep. The trick is to find the perfect combination of mattress and frame (and everything in-between) to ensure the ideal sleeping conditions.
Björn Steinbrink 🇩🇪
Sleep Coach
Björn Steinbrink is a certified sleep coach.
Based in Germany, Björn works predominantly with athletes to teach them how healthy sleep affects performance, personally and professionally.
Together with Dr Michael T. Coll Barroso, he's also launched the Fit For Sleep programme.
This online course is aimed at people from all walks of life and targets multiple facets of sleep, including overall sleep improvement and eliminating sleep disorders.
Good sleep is associated with many positive benefits, including health and fitness, improved performance, and overall higher quality of life.
Read our interview with Björn on sleep quality.
Caroline Rolland 🇫🇷
Physiotherapist
Caroline Rolland is a physiotherapist and osteopath with over a decade of experience.
Based in France, she works intensively with patients suffering from rheumatism and neurological conditions and those with respiratory problems.
Caroline is also closely involved with breast cancer patients, assisting women with everything from preoperative care to breast reconstruction.
Her experience includes working with both adults and children.
More recently, Caroline has begun working more with athletes to prepare them for all aspects of the competitive field.
Susanne Willekes 🇳🇱
Sleep Coach for Children
Susanne Willekes is the first certified Dutch sleep coach for children.
Based in Holland, she trained as a Gentle Sleep coach in America and started her practice, The Sleep Agency, in 2015. She has already helped thousands of families and children through her coaching - both at home and abroad.
Susanne is also the author of two successful books.
In addition, Susanne and her husband developed a sleep and feeding app for babies in 2021 called Sleepeez.
The mission?
"To support families with young children to enjoy a healthy, happy, and well-rested life."
Because of her unique expertise, Susanne is a frequent guest on radio and television shows. She also writes for Ouders van Nu's online platform.
Read our interview with Susanne on sleep coaching for children.
Pâmela Peixoto 🇵🇹
Massage Therapist
Pâmela Peixoto is a massage therapist specialising in post-operative rehabilitation, lymphatic drainage, sports, and relaxation.
Based in Portugal, she works with patients to achieve complete post-operative recovery but also helps them find well-being in their day-to-day life by addressing pain and restoring physical and mental balance.
Pâmela is also trained in the Renata França massage method, focusing on skin health and lymphatic function, and the Nany Mota massage method, designed to reduce swelling, relieve pain, and improve mobility for post-operative plastic surgery recovery.
Many of her methods promote deep relaxation, which can improve sleep quality and help clients sleep like a baby.
Nacho Lacomba 🇪🇸
Physiotherapist
Nacho Lacomba is a physiotherapist and personal trainer.
Based in Spain, he's completed a double degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences together with Physiotherapy at the Catholic University of Valencia. He's also completed a Master's Degree in Functional Assessment and Corrective Exercise.
Nacho focuses on invasive physiotherapy, ultra-sound, and injury rehabiliation, combinining physiotherapy with physical training to work with people of all ages on a range of ailments.
How do our sleep experts help us?
We started working with sleep experts to understand mattress testing better and provide more in-depth information to our readers.
From the very beginning of our deep dive into the testing process, our experts have helped us identify some key aspects to consider when testing.
Some of these include the degree of firmness, sinkage depths, and sleeping positions.
We've used our guiding expert knowledge as a base to structure our testing process.
But our experts haven't only guided our processes - they've also been instrumental in shaping our knowledge base by sharing their experiences with us.
They've guided us in understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all mattress and that different body types and builds have different mattress requirements, continuously highlighting the importance of mattress ergonomics, body posture, and optimal spinal alignment.
Their knowledge of different mattress materials and the best mattress designs, the human body, and optimal alignment has been paramount in helping us decipher how well-suited a particular mattress would be for a specific individual.
But they haven't only helped us with mattresses.
Expert knowledge has been instrumental in shaping our understanding of a wide variety of sleep accessories as well, including pillows, mattress toppers, duvets, bed frames, and more.
They've shared their understanding of how different mattresses and sleep positions require the use of different pillows, and how sleep accessories can affect your overall sleep quality.
Over the last little while, Sleep Hero has also grown beyond being a product review site, and other sleep-related matters interest us.
We're asking ourselves questions about some vital topics, such as:
- How do you deal with sleep disorders?
- Does diet affect your sleep?
- How can your mattress help with back pain?
- How much sleep do you really need?
- Which modern sleep gadgets help you sleep better?
We keep up with all the latest trends and research happening in the sleep world, and our sleep experts are only one call away from providing the medical and scientific background we need to give our readers the best advice.
Would you like to join our team of sleep experts?
We're always keen to work with more sleep experts from around the world!
Our teams publish content in a variety of languages - English, German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and more - and we'd be more than happy to work with all sorts of experts.
If you're interested in joining our team, please email us at info@airi.media, and we'll be able to send you full details of this amazing opportunity.
