Weight, Sleep and Smoking Cessation Support: GP in Dubai
Three things that change more of your health than any prescription, and three things people rarely bring to a doctor because they feel like willpower rather than medicine. They are medicine. At Smart Care Polyclinic in Deira, a GP offers structured support for weight, for sleep, and for stopping smoking, with the treatments the evidence supports, and refers to the medical weight-management programme where that is the right route.
For: anyone who has tried alone and wants a plan that works
Takes: a 20-30 minute consultation, then follow-up
Price: consultation AED 70
What it is
Stopping smoking: medication roughly doubles the chance of success, and the evidence is high quality. A Cochrane network meta-analysis of 319 trials and 157,179 people found varenicline, cytisine and nicotine e-cigarettes each about doubled quit rates compared with control (odds ratios around 2.2 to 2.4), with combination nicotine replacement — a patch plus a fast-acting form — close behind; in absolute terms, roughly seven or eight extra people in every hundred quit.1 The GP sets a quit date, prescribes the option that suits you, and follows up, because support plus medication outperforms either alone.
Sleep: for chronic insomnia the first-line treatment is not a tablet. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine's guideline, built on a review of 124 studies, recommends cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia as the standard treatment, with its components — sleep restriction, stimulus control, relaxation — evaluated individually.2 The GP screens for the conditions that mimic or drive insomnia, such as sleep apnoea, thyroid disease, depression and reflux, starts the behavioural programme, and uses medication briefly and deliberately where it is needed.
Weight: the honest starting point is that diets fail because biology fights back, and that structured support, realistic targets and, for some, medication under supervision change the odds. The GP assesses the causes and the risks, treats what is treatable, and refers to the clinic's medical weight-management programme with the internal medicine specialist where medication is appropriate; the programme's page states what the trials found, including what happens when the medication stops.
Snoring and daytime sleepiness
Loud snoring with pauses in breathing, waking unrefreshed, and falling asleep in the day suggest obstructive sleep apnoea, which is common in Dubai's population, treatable, and dangerous to leave — it raises blood pressure and the risk of accidents. The GP screens with a questionnaire and examination and refers for a sleep study where indicated.
Vaping
Nicotine e-cigarettes help smokers quit in the trials, and the GP will say so; they are not harmless, and the aim for a non-smoker is not to start. Someone who has switched to vaping and wants to stop that too is supported in the same way as a smoker.
The consultation, and what follows from it
GP consultation
Assessment, examination and a plan with every cost stated before anything further is done.
AED 70 was AED 130
Bookthe supervised programme, with the trial evidence
Questions patients ask
Medication plus support. Varenicline, cytisine and nicotine e-cigarettes roughly double quit rates in the Cochrane evidence, with combination nicotine replacement close behind. A quit date, a prescription and follow-up together give the best chance.
Sometimes, briefly, and deliberately. The evidence-based first treatment for chronic insomnia is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, and the GP also looks for the conditions that cause poor sleep. Tablets are used for short periods where they are needed.
Through the medical weight-management programme with the internal medicine specialist, after assessment. The programme page states what the trials found and what it costs.
This guide is general information, not advice about you. A GP's assessment depends on your history and examination, which is why the consultation exists.
References
- Lindson N, Theodoulou A, Ordóñez-Mena JM, et al.. Pharmacological and electronic cigarette interventions for smoking cessation in adults: component network meta-analyses. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2023;2023(9):CD015226. PMID 37696529. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD015226.pub2319 trials, 157,179 participants: high-certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes (OR 2.37), varenicline (OR 2.33) and cytisine (OR 2.21) raise quit rates, roughly seven to eight extra quitters per hundred; combination nicotine replacement close behind.
- Edinger JD, Arnedt JT, Bertisch SM, et al.. Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine systematic review, meta-analysis, and GRADE assessment. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2021;17(2):263-298. PMID 33164741. doi:10.5664/jcsm.8988The AASM review of 124 studies underpinning its guideline, evaluating cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia and its components — sleep restriction, stimulus control, relaxation and others.
Sources are listed for the specific statements they support. They are published research and guidance, not a substitute for a consultation — what applies to you is decided by a doctor who has assessed you.