Sleep Retreats is the in-facility programme of Sleep Health Centre — Dr Alison Bentley's Johannesburg-based sleep medicine practice. Thirty years of clinical and research experience. A retreat with a real clinic behind it.
Sleep Health Centre is a Johannesburg-based clinical practice specialising in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders — chronic insomnia, obstructive sleep apnoea, restless legs syndrome, parasomnias, delayed sleep phase syndrome, and the sleep complications that travel with shift work, ageing and high-stress careers.
The retreat exists because the same pattern played out in the consulting room, over and over: a patient finally arrives, the diagnostics are unambiguous, the treatment plan is clear — and the home environment is fighting the protocol every step of the way. The retreat gives the protocol five nights to work without that fight, and sends each participant home with a sleep environment they actually know how to build.
South Africa's foremost sleep specialist, with three decades of clinical and research experience in sleep medicine. The physician who trains the sleep doctors. Leads protocol design and the morning group sessions on every retreat.
Co-facilitator on the retreat and operational lead for the programme. Focused on integrating clinical diagnostics, environmental design and behavioural protocols into sleep plans participants can actually live with after they leave.
For patients who would rather start with an outpatient consultation than a five-night retreat, the practice runs a full sleep clinic from its rooms in Parktown, Johannesburg.
Clinical sleep histories, polysomnography, actigraphy, oximetry — the diagnostics that make a treatment plan possible.
CBT-I for chronic insomnia, CPAP and apnoea management, treatment of parasomnias and circadian rhythm disorders. Withdrawal from sleeping tablets, supported by CBT-I.
Every retreat participant is enrolled in scheduled follow-up with the clinical team — telemedicine or face-to-face. Sleep restoration is a long arc.
Patients in other facilities — health retreats, destressing programmes, or psychiatric admissions — often have undiagnosed sleep disorders or are looking to come off sleeping medication. Both need formal medical support, and most facilities do not have sleep-specific expertise on hand.
Sleep Health Centre runs a virtual sleep consultation programme that extends the retreat into any facility, anywhere in South Africa. After-hours consults so as not to interfere with daytime activities. Transcriptions shared with the treating clinician on request.
Obstructive sleep apnoea, restless legs syndrome, delayed sleep phase syndrome — diagnosed and treated alongside the existing programme.
Withdrawal from sleeping tablets, managed with CBT-I — for patients hoping to come off them during their stay.
Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia — evidence-based, virtual, delivered around the host facility's daytime schedule.
Whether you'd like to start with a retreat, a consultation, or an in-facility programme for a patient already in care — reach the practice directly.
Restonic Ezintsha Sleep Clinic, Parktown, Johannesburg