Latest news with #Women'sPodcast
Irish Times
24-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Sleep divorce: Should couples sleep in separate beds?
Jennifer Adams hasn't slept in the same bed as her husband Fraser for over 20 years. In the early days of their relationship, after five months of dating, the pair moved in together, and as most couples do, began sharing a bed. Adams says that they 'lasted one week' in a bed together. This was a result of her husband's 'epic' snoring. 'It was just every night', the author tells Women's Podcast host Róisín Ingle. 'The snoring kept me awake. He was aware that it was keeping me awake. So he started to feel anxious as well because I'm just a person who does not function very well on little sleep'. Initially, the idea of sleeping separately was a temporary measure during the week, when the couple both needed to be rested for work. This resulted in Adams' partner sleeping in the 'spare room' except at weekends. Now an advocate for couples to open up the conversation surrounding alternative sleeping arrangements, she said initially 'it wasn't an easy decision'. READ MORE The new arrangement lasted three weeks, until the couple decided to sleep in separate beds full time so they could be better rested on the weekends too. 'It was just such a practical decision for us,' says Adams. The seeds of her book, A Sleep Divorce: How to sleep apart, not fall apart which she co-wrote with sleep expert Dr. Neil Stanley, were sown when she encountered people's reactions to her unorthodox arrangement. 'A lot of people were wide-eyed. There were people who were trying to be polite. A lot of friends were like 'this isn't good, you're only five or six months into the relationship''. 'I actually never really thought about what people's response was going to be. In all honesty, I just didn't'. Adams says she was also inspired to write the book following a conversation with a colleague, in which they revealed they had been sleeping separately from their husband for 12 years but kept it secret for fear of being judged by family and friends. In this episode, the Australian author discusses how couples can gently broach the topic of sleeping separately, the history of co-sleeping and why sleep is as crucial to our health as diet and exercise. You can listen back to this episode on the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
Irish Times
01-05-2025
- Science
- Irish Times
‘It was such a feeling of awe': All girls team to represent Ireland at Robotics World Championships
'It was such a feeling of awe,' recalls 12 year old Alice Duffy, describing the moment her robotics team were announced as the overall winners of the VEX IQ All Ireland Robotics Competition. Duffy is part of The Steminists, a group of five students from Co Offaly, who made history earlier this year when they became the first all-female team to win the competition. The 12 year-old first year student is the team's builder and game analyst. 'It was incredible… because there were a lot of boys teams there, and it was just really cool to show them we can do just as good as they can,' she tells Róisín Ingle on the latest episode of The Irish Times Women's Podcast. The team of young women, who range in age from 12 to 14, impressed the judges at the competition with their robot, Agatha Trunchbull, affectionately named after the main antagonist in Roald Dahl's Matilda. READ MORE But creating Agatha came with its challenges for the group. 'It is quite difficult because it's more trial and error…you don't know what's going to go wrong and how you're going to fix it,' explains 13-year old Rachael Ebenezer, the Steminist's research, strategy and team coordinator. Following their historic win, The Steminists will travel to Dallas, Texas this month to represent Ireland at the World Robotics Championships. It's a dream come true for the girls and their science teachers, Sindy Meleady and Aisling Burke. 'We knew this was a very special team. We knew it was a very special robot. It was very tense down there,' says Meleady, who is anticipating even tougher competition at the World Championships. 'There's going to be over 300 teams from around the world and some of those teams are well resourced, so much more than a little all girls team from Tullamore could ever be'. Whether they take home a prize or not, Duffy says, 'I'm just really looking forward to the whole atmosphere, seeing what the other teams have, and just going with the people I've worked with for the past eight months. It's gonna be so good.' You can listen back to this episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
