AIA is the First Insurance Company to Reward Malaysians for Sleeping!

Kuala Lumpur, 30 April 2019 – Have you ever experienced difficulties falling asleep at night or wake up still feeling sleepy, tired and unrested? If yes, then most likely you are part of the national statistic which states that nine in 10 Malaysians (89%) suffer from one or more sleep problems¹. Recognising that Malaysians are a sleep-deprived lot, AIA Bhd. has once again made a breakthrough in the health and wellness space by launching a sleep tracking benefit via its AIA Vitality programme that rewards members for sleeping longer.

As part of the insurer’s commitment to help Malaysians live Healthier, Longer and Better Lives, AIA is taking one step further in raising awareness on the importance of sleep - emphasising that resting well is no less important as being physically active and maintaining a balanced diet for a holistic wellbeing.

Speaking at the media launch today, Anusha Thavarajah, Chief Executive Officer of AIA Bhd. shared how the company is continuously shaping and playing its role as a health influencing mobiliser with AIA Vitality, its unique, science backed health programme that encourages and incentivises healthy choices.

“I am happy to see how far AIA Vitality has progressed since we launched the programme three years ago. We started off by rewarding our members for taking steps to exercise more, and later gave them benefits for practising healthy eating. And now, we want to reward them for incorporating sufficient rest into their lives. By helping our members improve their health and incentivising them for making healthier choices, we are challenging ourselves to move beyond the role of being a traditional insurance company. Our role now is to not only protect their future but to encourage, empower and support them to achieve their health aspirations.”

The new sleep tracking benefit rewards members with 10 AIA Vitality points per day (annual cap of 2,000 points per membership year) if they achieve a minimum of 420 minutes or seven hours of accumulated sleep within a 24-hour period.

The hours can be tracked by syncing the AIA Vitality mobile application to a fitness tracking device such as Fitbit, Garmin and Misfit. The device records the amount of sleep a person gets by accumulating their sleeping hours, beginning from 12.00 noon to 12.00 noon the following day.

Heng Zee Wang, Chief Marketing Officer of AIA Bhd. explained that the sleep tracking benefit is the easiest way for members to earn points and receive better rewards. “To date, we have more than 100,000 active AIA Vitality members. We aspire to grow the number and reach out to more Malaysians by providing a platform that motivates and enables them to make little changes and healthier choices every day. All they need to do is to try and get at least seven hours of snooze time and get rewarded! It doesn’t get any easier than that. With the extra hours of sleep, members can achieve a higher AIA vitality status, thus unlocking even greater rewards such as additional insurance or takaful coverage and discounts from our various partners.” 

Zee Wang also mentioned that sleep issues are particularly evident amongst the Malaysian workforce. “Findings from the latest Malaysia’s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality survey revealed that 54.4% of Malaysian employees sleep less than seven hours a night, with 11% claiming to have poor sleep followed by 2% having very poor sleep. However, based on this survey, it is encouraging to see that more and more organisations are taking steps to implement interventions which can affect positive behavioural change among their employees. With an increased focus by the entire industry on implementing wellbeing programmes to help people on their health journey, we can create meaningful outcomes for our customers and the greater society.” 

Launched in 2016, AIA Vitality provides its members with the knowledge, tools and motivation to bring about long-term positive behavioural changes to lead a healthier life. It uses the principles of behavioural science to promote healthy habits, rewarding members with meaningful benefits and discounts for taking sustainable steps, however small, to improve their health and wellbeing.

AIA Vitality is integrated together with AIA’s suite of insurance products and takaful solutions where customers are given an option to participate in the programme for a membership fee of RM10 per month.  

Consisting of three pillars – know your health, improve your health and enjoy the rewards, AIA Vitality members are motivated to actively engage in health and wellness activities by offering them a range of benefits from AIA Vitality partners including AirAsia, BP Healthcare, Fitness First, Guardian, Jaya Grocer, TGV Cinemas, and many more.

For more information on AIA Vitality’s sleep tracking benefit and the programme, visit www.aiavitality.com.my