{"id":839265,"date":"2025-10-07T13:11:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T11:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=839265"},"modified":"2025-10-16T15:13:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T13:13:39","slug":"discovery-bringing-major-international-brand-to-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/839265\/discovery-bringing-major-international-brand-to-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovery wants to watch you sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Discovery is partnering with the American-Finnish tech company, Oura, to bring the company\u2019s popular health-tracking ring to South Africa for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovery and Oura believe that the partnership will help South Africans take small steps to improve their sleeping habits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the partnership, Discovery is also launching a new dedicated sleep score through its Vitality programme, which leverages the group’s behavioural rewards model to incentivise a change in sleep habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oura Rings, as well as other health tracking mechanisms, will be core the new focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Hale, CEO of Oura, noted that the Finnish company has a keen focus on health impacts, with the Oura Ring specifically looking to improve sleep outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Oura head of corporate sales and development, Kate Weir, the gold standard for measuring sleep is polysonography (PSG).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is typically measured overnight, monotoring subjects in clinical setting and assessing their brain data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PSG also measures breathing patterns, eye movements, and other psychological signals. This method is usually complex, expensive, but can now be done to a similar level of accuracy as the Oura Ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ring measures sleep activity and then gives recommendations on how to improve this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weir said that Oura is the most scientifically-proven device for measuring sleep.\u00a0She added that wearability is crucial, with people currently using the ring for about 23 hours per week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first generation of the ring came out in 2015, and the current fourth-generation has 18 sensing pathways, which can measure temperature, smart sensing and more.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, the Oura Ring is launching for the first time in South Africa through Discovery, with the system “going live” for clients on Tuesday (7 October).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first batch of rings will be delivered to South Africa on Thursday (9 October), the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to BusinessTech, Discovery Vitality CEO Dinesh Govendor said that the ring will only be available to Discovery Vitality and Discovery Health Medical Scheme Clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Govendor added that Discovery will not only cover the R8,600 cost of an Oura Ring but also the subscription fee that Oura charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To qualify for the Discovery benefit, members will need to ensure that they wear the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Govendor said that Discovery convinced Oura to come to the South African market, with the country admittedly low on the US company’s list of countries that it wanted to enter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Discovery’s Data says <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Discovery is looking to improve sleep activity across its members in South Africa, with the company highlighting the financial and health benefits of regular sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovery SA and Discovery Bank CEO Hylton Kallner noted that Discovery has 1.4 billion petabytes of member data, giving the company deep insights on health and a frame of reference for how it can improve benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, the data shows how sleep affects all aspects of health and daily functioning, and how improving sleep habits can lead to better health outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovery analysed 47 million nights of sleep data across 105,000 members over a three-year study, finding that good sleep led to a 24% reduction in mortality and a 7% drop in in-hospital costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to things like driving, sufficient REM sleep (the deepest and most productive stage) results in better driving outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversely, insufficient REM sleep results in a 36% higher risk of motor-vehicle accidents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding financial habits, good sleep habits also result in better savings, debt management and overall economic health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, sleep data continues to show that people globally are not spending enough time getting good sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovery noted that 60% of US adults do not get enough sleep, while 40% struggle to fall asleep at least three times a week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This lack of sleep leads to significant cognitive declines. For those who spend 17 to 19 hours awake, this is the same as having a blood-alcohol level of 0.05% – the legal driving limit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lack of sleep also leads to an immune disruption, increases cardiometabolic risk and mental health issues, the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovery’s product changes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As part of its new focus on healthy sleeping habits, Discovery is introducing a new ‘Vitality Sleep Score’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a new sleep metric calculated daily using sleep data from a member\u2019s linked wearable device and through the Vitality Sleep Tracker for mobile phones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The score will combine four key metrics: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Sleep duration<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Regularity of sleep time<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sufficiency of deep sleep<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sufficiency of REM sleep<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Each score is then personalised based on the member\u2019s demographic profile and lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As part of the tracking, the group is also introducing Vitality Sleep Rewards, which are designed to help members track, understand and improve their sleep via personalised goals and actionable insights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Members will be given a dynamic weekly sleep goal tailored to their personal profile, with the goal set at a level that encourages behaviour change where needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Members will earn instant rewards for achieving their weekly sleep goals with a choice reward between partner rewards or Discovery Miles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For Discovery Health, sleep health formation will be integrated into the personal health pathways (PHP) platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In 2026, Discovery Health will also collaborate with healthcare professionals by subsidising specialised training in sleep medicine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Discovery believes there will be a R1.1 billion reduction in healthcare costs if all Discovery Health Medical Scheme members improve their sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For Discovery Insure, Vitality Drive members will soon be able to earn points by engaging in sleep tracking, recording instances of adequate sleep and maintaining consecutive nights of quality rest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This will allow members to earn more rewards within the Vitality Drive programme, while other programme elements will remain unchanged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Vitality Drive clients may find it easier to attain Diamond status by incorporating sleep tracking, as these supplementary points are additive to existing point accumulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This can lead to higher-tier rewards and more fuel cash back rewards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Discovery is partnering with American technology company, Oura, to bring its popular health-tracking rings to South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":839335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9878],"tags":[4883,23766,14807],"class_list":["post-839265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-discovery","tag-oura","tag-vitality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839265"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840182,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839265\/revisions\/840182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}