News

UAE Users Sleep Less, But More Efficiently, ŌURA Data Reveals

UAE users of the ŌURA smart ring sleep less than peers in Europe, the US and Asia yet score among the world’s most efficient sleepers.

Published

5 months ago

January 15, 2026

Joanna Melki

uae users sleep less but more efficiently oura data reveals

ŌURA

UAE users of the ŌURA smart ring sleep less than peers in Europe, the US and Asia yet score among the world’s most efficient sleepers, according to new data from the Finnish wearable maker.

Members in the Emirates average 6.85 hours a night, just shy of the global 7.1-hour norm. Even so, they post an average sleep-efficiency score of 85.7%, outpacing markets including the US, UK, Finland and New Zealand. Sleep efficiency tracks how much of the time in bed counts as actual sleep.

doug sweeny oura chief marketing officer in dubai

The study points to a clear “night-owl” profile. Typical bedtimes land at 12:06 am and wake-ups at 7:57 am. ŌURA said the UAE holds the highest share of late-evening chronotypes in its sample at 6.67%, more than double the global rate.

Gender gaps also stand out. Women sleep nearly 30 minutes longer than men (7.07 vs 6.59 hours) and show slightly higher efficiency and more consistent REM patterns.

“Sleep quality is one of the most important indicators of long-term health, and the UAE is a standout example of protecting quality when life demands make quantity a challenge,” said Doug Sweeny, ŌURA’s chief marketing officer. He argued the country appears to be “working with the body’s natural circadian rhythms rather than against them”.

Also Read: OpenAI’s ChatGPT Health Is A Private Space For Health Data

For ŌURA, the promotion of its research coincides with a broader retail push in the Gulf region. The company’s fourth-generation smart ring — including a ceramic edition — is now sold through Amazon.ae, Virgin Megastore and Dubai Duty Free, starting at AED 1,599.

Wearables adoption in the UAE has picked up in recent years as governments in the Gulf steer preventative-health and digital tracking strategies. Sleep metrics have become a battleground for brands seeking consumers who care more about recovery than step counts.

Related Topics:HealthTech ŌURA United Arab Emirates

Up Next

UAE-Built Falcon-H1 Arabic Leads LLM Benchmarks

Don't Miss

Governata Raises $4M For Saudi AI Data-Governance Push

Click to comment

News

At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value

Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

at io 2026 sundar pichai concedes ai must deliver real value

Google

Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.

The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.

Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.

The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.

Also Read: DJI Teases Dual-Camera Osmo Pocket 4P For 2026 Launch

Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.

What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.