@Intercoil Launches ‘Sleep Matters’ – A Community Initiative Dedicated to Improving Quality of Sleep

Research Finds Half of UAE Residents Have Trouble Sleeping

Sleep Matters, a community initiative aimed at improving people’s lives, was launched today in the UAE to help educate, inform and encourage health and wellbeing for UAE residents. The first and most comprehensive resource in the UAE for all information related to sleep, Sleep Matters (www.sleepmattersme.com) is a platform to unite lifestyle commentators and the community around a shared goal – getting a good night’s sleep.
An initiative created  by Intercoil International, the UAE’s leading manufacturer of premium mattresses and bedroom furniture, Sleep Matters brings together  a number of influential and experienced lifestyle and healthcare practitioners – Sleep Matters Ambassadors – who believe that broadening the conversation about sleep will contribute to improving the overall wellbeing of the community.
Commenting on the launch of the online platform, Hassan Al Hazeem, Managing Director of Intercoil and a healthy sleep ambassador, said: “Through the nature of our business, we always come across people who are not only looking to buy a mattress or  bed, but to improve the quality of their sleep. By raising awareness on the importance of a good night’s sleep and helping people find ways to improve their sleep, we strongly believe this initiative can have a positive impact on people’s lives.”
One of the first activities conducted under the Sleep Matters umbrella, was a comprehensive survey commissioned by Intercoil and conducted by YouGov in February 2014.  The study of 425 residents in the UAE revealed that although 35% of respondents claim to sleep better now than 12 months ago, half of them still have a very poor to average night’s sleep.
According to the survey , the top factors that influence the quality of sleep, are daily life worries, stress, bedroom temperature, noise and quality of mattress followed by medical conditions, late dinner and poor diet. Significantly more of those who have trouble falling asleep claim they have ‘a lot of stress in their life’ and ‘worry easily about life in general’.
Overall, respondents sleep an average of 6.5 hours during weekdays and 7.8 hours during weekends, with around 25% of Emiratis and Arab expats claiming to sleep less than 4 hours. 89% of those who always or often have trouble sleeping claimed they “wish they could sleep better at night”.
With a majority of respondents (85%) acknowledging that a healthy sleep leads to a healthy life, two thirds of the total panel claimed that the lack of sleep affects their daily functions.
Commenting on the results of the survey, Dr. Melanie Schlatter, Health Psychologist at Health Psychology UAE said: “Nearly 90% of those who had trouble sleeping appear to be passive in their ‘wish’ for better sleep, which indicates that people just seem to put up with not feeling particularly well rested, and they don’t seem to be aware of the wide range of options available to help them.”
The Sleep Matters Ambassadors who helped bringing this initiative to life and will be contributing their time and expertise to helping the community to identify sleep issues and find ways to improve the quality of their sleep are:

• Dr. Melanie Schlatter – Health Psychologist 
• Kaya Peters – Yoga Teacher and Holistic Coach 
• Cristiano Falconi – Feng Shui Consultant
• Niloo Soltanpour – Pilates Teacher
• Hassan Al Hazeem – Managing Director of Intercoil
• Dr. Neda Nafei – Chiropractor

For more details on ‘Sleep Matters’ please visit the website: www.sleepmattersme.com