Our story
Selah Sleep was founded in the fall of 2020 by Christine Øvstedal and Maria With Hoen. They met through a friend, and connected over their strong personal experiences with sleep and habits for wellbeing.
They started Selah with a burning desire to create the product they themselves had longed for on their journeys to master their sleep.
The story of Maria’s interest in sleep started when she was in a near-death accident on the Death Road in Bolivia at age 20. In the three years of rehabilitation work and surgeries that followed, Maria experienced the importance of sleep firsthand – and the frustration and pain of not getting it.
Learning how to sleep again after the accident felt more challenging for her than learning how to walk again.
She devoted herself to learning everything she could about sleep, its link to physical and mental health, and what techniques and habits she could implement to take her sleep and full health back.
Christine had experienced how difficult it was to switch off and find rest as a busy student juggling university, jobs, and social life. She realized how much this was affecting her wellbeing, and saw so many of her peers struggling as well.
Christine started experimenting with habits and techniques such as reducing screen time and practicing mindfulness. Although she was in awe of their effect on her sense of calm, she was frustrated by how challenging it was to make these habits into a consistent practice.
Was there really no way it could be made easier?
Together with the Selah-team, Christine and Maria set out to create a bedside device that would help us master our entire sleep cycle – from winding down to completing our morning routine.
We’re all on our own journey to master sleep. For some, it’s about being able to tuck away the phone before bed. Others just want to wake up a little bit earlier each day.
And the reason we started Selah, was to help people on that journey.
