The Warehouse outdoor gym at JBR in Dubai. Victor Besa for The National
The Warehouse outdoor gym at JBR in Dubai. Victor Besa for The National
The Warehouse outdoor gym at JBR in Dubai. Victor Besa for The National
The Warehouse outdoor gym at JBR in Dubai. Victor Besa for The National

The health benefits of being outdoors


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Before the age of modern medicine, a healthy dose of sea air was considered enough to heal myriad ailments.

And while science may have altered the vast majority of go-to therapies, there is still much to be said about the health benefits of being outdoors.

A 2009 study from the Netherlands revealed that living within one kilometre of green space led to a lower incidence of 15 diseases. The relation was strongest for anxiety disorder and depression, the researchers found. Other conditions included diabetes, migraines and asthma.

One of the key benefits of being outdoors is the production of vitamin D, which helps the body absorb iron, calcium and zinc. It also helps maintain healthy muscle, and healthy nervous and immune systems. Exposure to sunlight triggers the process that produces vitamin D in the body.

“Isolating your body from this vitamin is like opening a door to a host of disorders, ranging from heart disease and Alzheimer’s to weak bones and diabetes,” says Dr Mai Al Jaber, deputy medical director and head of public health initiatives at Healthpoint, Abu Dhabi. “Every tissue type in your body has receptors for vitamin D, meaning that they all require it for adequate functioning.”

Some people swear by the benefits of negative ions – atoms charged with one extra electron that purify and freshen air – and say they are in high concentration in natural settings such as by a sea or waterfall, or in the countryside. A 1989 book by the late Robert E Thayer, a professor of psychology at California State University, cited research that reported: “Negative ionic concentrations increased energetic feelings as well as improved reaction time.”

Whatever the reason for the boost in mood in the outdoors, the consensus is clear: being outdoors makes people healthier.

“Natural light tends to elevate people’s moods,” says Dr Melissa Li-Ng, staff physician at the Medical Subspecialties Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. “Additionally, compared with exercising indoors, engaging in physical activity in natural environments is associated with greater self-esteem and increased energy.”

Studies also show, she adds, that activities such as walking, hiking or gardening are linked to enhanced mental health and positivity, as well as a reduction in stress, anxiety and depression.

While not such an issue in the UAE, seasonal affective disorder (Sad) is a good example of how the outside environment affects our health. Defined as a type of depression linked to a change in seasons, Sad is thought to be linked to a drop in serotonin and melatonin levels.

The former is a neurological chemical that affects moods; levels decline if there is a reduction in the amount of sunshine on the body.

The production of melatonin, the hormone that regulates the circadian rhythm or body clock, also drops when it is darker.

As such, natural light encourages better sleep, which is good for our mental and physical well-being.

Melatonin is especially important for women because it affects “the frequency and duration of menstrual cycles”, according to researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

It is not just the sunshine that helps boost our health. Li-Ng also points to evidence that suggests being outdoors helps patients recover more quickly.

“For patients who have recently undergone surgery,” she says, “spending time outdoors is linked to regaining a sense of well-being, experiencing less pain and requiring less medication during their recovery”.

Benefiting from the outdoors does not have to mean climbing a mountain or swimming in the sea; a simple walk around the block is better than nothing.

In general, walking reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as helping to manage conditions such as high cholesterol and joint or muscular pain, according to Dr Safdar Naqvi, executive and medical director of Imperial College London Diabetes Centre, Abu Dhabi.

But, as with most forms of exercise, the more one does, the greater the benefit.

“Walking prevents dementia; older people who walk 9km or more per week are more likely to avoid brain shrinkage and preserve memory as the years pass,” says Naqvi, who is also a consultant physician and endocrinologist.

Company name: Play:Date

Launched: March 2017 on UAE Mother’s Day

Founder: Shamim Kassibawi

Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US

Sector: Tech 

Size: 20 employees

Stage of funding: Seed

Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund

How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed

Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.

Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.

The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.

One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.

That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten

Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a  month before Reaching the Last Mile.

Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
IF YOU GO

The flights

FlyDubai flies direct from Dubai to Skopje in five hours from Dh1,314 return including taxes. Hourly buses from Skopje to Ohrid take three hours.

The tours

English-speaking guided tours of Ohrid town and the surrounding area are organised by Cultura 365; these cost €90 (Dh386) for a one-day trip including driver and guide and €100 a day (Dh429) for two people. 

The hotels

Villa St Sofija in the old town of Ohrid, twin room from $54 (Dh198) a night.

St Naum Monastery, on the lake 30km south of Ohrid town, has updated its pilgrims' quarters into a modern 3-star hotel, with rooms overlooking the monastery courtyard and lake. Double room from $60 (Dh 220) a night.

 

Tuesday's fixtures
Group A
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Iran v Uzbekistan, 8pm
N Korea v UAE, 10.15pm
Gothia Cup 2025

4,872 matches 

1,942 teams

116 pitches

76 nations

26 UAE teams

15 Lebanese teams

2 Kuwaiti teams

Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

'Spies in Disguise'

Director: Nick Bruno and Troy Quane

Stars: Will Smith, Tom Holland, Karen Gillan and Roshida Jones 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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.

Baby Driver

Director: Edgar Wright

Starring: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Lily James

Three and a half stars

Ticket prices
  • Golden circle - Dh995
  • Floor Standing - Dh495
  • Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
  • Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
  • Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
  • Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
  • Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
  • Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
Info

What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship

When: December 27-29, 2018

Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823

How to turn your property into a holiday home
  1. Ensure decoration and styling – and portal photography – quality is high to achieve maximum rates.
  2. Research equivalent Airbnb homes in your location to ensure competitiveness.
  3. Post on all relevant platforms to reach the widest audience; whether you let personally or via an agency know your potential guest profile – aiming for the wrong demographic may leave your property empty.
  4. Factor in costs when working out if holiday letting is beneficial. The annual DCTM fee runs from Dh370 for a one-bedroom flat to Dh1,200. Tourism tax is Dh10-15 per bedroom, per night.
  5. Check your management company has a physical office, a valid DTCM licence and is licencing your property and paying tourism taxes. For transparency, regularly view your booking calendar.
While you're here