“Sleep in its purest form is a learnt behaviour; it’s not intuitive. If it were that easy, why do so many people have problems sleeping?” asks Julie Mallon, a health practitioner, sleep expert and founder of Nurture 2 Sleep in Dubai.
She believes that while many are awakening to the benefits of proper sleep, others are still falling short when it comes to snoozing. This is a pressing problem because the quality of our sleep has a profound impact on our mental and physical health.
Education, followed by action, is Mallon’s solution. The British consultant, podcast host and children’s author has weekly lectures centred around sleep topics with the world’s leading neuroscientists and will host a two-day sleep retreat at MGallery by Sofitel this weekend.
Improve your sleep tonight
Mallon is on a mission to help those who struggle to drop off at night and insists simple changes to daily behaviours can play a key role in helping to get a better night's sleep, such as exposing your eyes to sunlight as soon as you wake in the morning to set your biological clock properly at night-time.
Stretching exercises after getting out of bed is also hugely beneficial, if only for a few minutes because it releases the growth hormone, sending a signal to your brain to restore and repair at night.
Caffeinated drinks shouldn't be taken for 90 minutes after waking up
Julie Mallon,
sleep consultant
“People don’t understand the importance of light on our sleep. The way in which we wake up in the morning sets the tone for how we are going to sleep at night. Getting outside for five minutes and exposing the retina is so much more beneficial to being inside and standing by the window.
“We also know that sleep is dehydrating, so people should be having between 600 and 900 millilitres of water when they wake up. Caffeinated drinks, too, shouldn’t be taken straight away, but 90 minutes after waking up.”
She adds: “When we eat and what we eat is also very important. For adults, the recommendations are that we shouldn’t sleep for two to three hours after the meal.
“If you’re fasting or skipping dinner, I recommend taking a teaspoon of honey before going to bed because if you go to bed hungry, the brain will forage for food while you’re asleep. Honey is important because we know it crosses the blood-brain barrier easily, which then supports sleep, so it boosts the tryptophan, which is an important building block for melatonin.”
Sleeping apps and tricky tech
Mallon says that today’s “always-on” society is causing a distinct lack of good-quality sleep. Most experts agree that adults need between seven and eight hours of sleep a night, something many don’t achieve because of the nature of the fast-paced society we live in.
The rise in technology has enabled us to connect easily with anyone, almost anywhere, which often leads to excess scrolling on devices, usually just before bed, which can make falling asleep harder.
The gold standard for measuring sleep is polysomnography, a sleep study using electrodes
Julie Mallon
Technology has also enabled us to track our sleep, with dedicated apps and watches having the ability to monitor us throughout the night and provide results in the morning – although this is data that Mallon says you can’t always rely on.
“It’s not just duration, but also sleep quality that’s important. Apps don’t always measure accurately because they tend to only measure your stillness rather than the deep sleep itself. They can also create anxiety because one day it says you have had a great night sleep and the next it says you missed your target.
“Technology is fantastic, but we need to be able to read our own body and know what makes us feel good and sleep well without a device telling us. Ultimately, the gold standard for measuring sleep is polysomnography where you go in and stay for a sleep study using electrodes that measure your true deep sleep and non-rapid and rapid eye movement sleep.”
Time for intervention
Mallon also believes that a public health initiative should be the next step in addressing sleep deprivation and its associated health concerns. “In terms of where the UAE is now as a country, we are taking sleep more seriously than ever before, but we need a public health initiative for it.”
The qualified gentle sleep coach began her career as a nurse and midwife in the UK, and says her years of experience working with children and in healthcare have enabled her to teach others about sleep, despite there being no regulations on people working in the emerging industry.
“It’s not regulated,” she says, “and it’s quite alarming that you can do a few hours online and call yourself a sleep consultant. It’s thanks to all my qualifications and work in child psychology, child development, sleep and nutrition that I do it, because all those elements have to be brought into sleep work – you cannot think about sleep in isolation.
Dubai sleep retreat
As part of her goal to educate and help people get a better night’s sleep, Mallon is hosting a two-day sleep retreat on Saturday and Sunday on Palm Jumeirah. The itinerary includes yoga, meditation and sleep-inducing spa therapies, such as oxygen relaxation and an eye sleep ritual. Participants can immerse themselves in the science of sleep and use evidence-backed strategies for better sleep, while learning about supplements, nutrition and lifestyle choices.
Mallon says: “The sleep retreat gives people the tools to take home. Ultimately, we aim to make it fun. It’s not about creating more anxiety because we’re not getting enough sleep, but informing you about things you can do, such as looking at your diet.
“For instance, magnesium is one of the supplements that everyone should be looking at as it’s an important building block of sleep. Magnesium is responsible for over 300 chemical reactions within the body. We should be getting it from our food, but it’s not possible any more because of how our food is farmed.
“Yoghurt is a great food to eat for sleep because it contains calcium, which is an important building block for tryptophan and melatonin. Salmon, too, contains tryptophan so it’s great because it boosts melatonin that helps you sleep.”
For more information on the MGallery x Nurture 2 Sleep retreat, visit www.nurture2sleep.com/Sleepretreat or email info@nurture2sleep.com
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Terminator: Dark Fate
Director: Tim Miller
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The stats: 2017 Jaguar XJ
Price, base / as tested Dh326,700 / Dh342,700
Engine 3.0L V6
Transmission Eight-speed automatic
Power 340hp @ 6,000pm
Torque 450Nm @ 3,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.1L / 100km
Jurassic%20Park
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
From exhibitions to the battlefield
In 2016, the Shaded Dome was awarded with the 'De Vernufteling' people's choice award, an annual prize by the Dutch Association of Consulting Engineers and the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers for the most innovative project by a Dutch engineering firm.
It was assigned by the Dutch Ministry of Defence to modify the Shaded Dome to make it suitable for ballistic protection. Royal HaskoningDHV, one of the companies which designed the dome, is an independent international engineering and project management consultancy, leading the way in sustainable development and innovation.
It is driving positive change through innovation and technology, helping use resources more efficiently.
It aims to minimise the impact on the environment by leading by example in its projects in sustainable development and innovation, to become part of the solution to a more sustainable society now and into the future.
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
Company profile
Company name: Nestrom
Started: 2017
Co-founders: Yousef Wadi, Kanaan Manasrah and Shadi Shalabi
Based: Jordan
Sector: Technology
Initial investment: Close to $100,000
Investors: Propeller, 500 Startups, Wamda Capital, Agrimatico, Techstars and some angel investors
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
The%20specs
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Company%20Profile
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