Research & Development

Innovation for sleep apnea reimbursed by Achmea

In the fall of 2010 NightBalance won the Health~Holland Venture Challenge. Less than five years later NightBalance proudly announced that health insurance company Achmea will reimburse their innovative Sleep Position Trainer (SPT). The SPT is the first innovative obstructive sleep apnea device in the world to receive reimbursement.

NightBalance, a spin-off of the Technical University Delft, developed the Sleep Position Trainer (SPT) to prevent positional sleep apnea. Sleep apnea causes many problems, including daytime drowsiness, lack of concentration, irritability, heavy snoring and as a result reduced quality of life. NightBalance found the solution: the SPT.


The innovation is a smart way to gently train patients to sleep on their side instead of their back. The SPT gives a light vibration that nudges the patient to change their sleep position. This only occurs during the light sleep stage, so that the natural sleep pattern of the patient is not affected. Patients are able to move freely during the night. Other features include a system that enables patients to gradually get used to sleeping in new positions and avoid sleep disruption.

In addition, the innovative SPT significantly increases therapy compliance and thereby improves treatment results.


Achmea is the first health insurer that reimburses this innovative approach to prevent sleep apnea. In order to achieve this, NightBalance performed years of research, including 35.000 nights of testing and lots of clinical research, resulting in many scientific publications. The convincing results of the research encouraged Achmea to reimburse this innovation. NightBalance is a great example of a smart solution in the Life Sciences & Health sector.