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The Dream South Beach

1111 Collins Ave., Miami, Fla.; dreamsouthbeach.com; 108 rooms with winter rates from $279 (U.S.). no eco-rating.

Walking into the Dream South Beach feels like entering another dimension of art deco glamour, Eastern sensuality and Bollywood charm.

Open since July, the Dream South Beach brings whimsical Moroccan fantasy to Collins Avenue’s fabled swagger. with a chic rooftop pool lounge and neighbourhood restaurant by Michelin-starred chef Geoffrey Zakarian, this gorgeous 108-room boutique hotel is the latest addition to the Dream brand (an offshoot of Chatwal hotels).

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With properties in New York, Thailand and India, the Chatwal’s hip luxury lifestyle formula clearly works. Like other Dream joints, this one feels authentic to local culture, but also subtly radiates jet-setting glamour and accessible urban cool. It’s pleasantly quirky, too.

Vikram Chatwal, the 40-year-old son of hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, is the brand’s founder. Well known for his personal life and global gallivanting, he has achieved some success as a film actor, yet in person he is a gracious, chilled-out host. at the Dream’s opening party, he kept a low profile. Nicky Hilton was in attendance, as were fire-eaters and models sporting teeny gold shorts and Marie Antoinette wigs. And did I mention the vodka popsicles? delicious.

Design

Located behind the former Versace mansion, the gorgeous Dream merges two historic art deco hotels, the Palmer House and the Tudor Hotel, which opened in 1939. while creating their French Moroccan concept, design house Architropolis honoured the site’s architectural legacy and preserved many existing features (the former check-in desk of the Tudor, a stunning marble surface, now serves as the bar of the Tudor House restaurant). Adjacent to the restaurant is an exotic, bright orange Moroccan lounge, with plush fabrics, rugs and sofas. It’s eye-popping.

The second building houses the lobby, and the hotel’s main entrance is a lovely courtyard between the two that is landscaped with bamboo, fountains and an underlit pathway.

Designed with Vikram Chatwal in mind, lush fabrics make the ornate two-storey penthouse feel tastefully decadent. a marble table was built specifically to be danced upon, and a massive hookah pipe is fully functional. Yet the Dream’s crowning jewel is its rooftop infinity pool and deck, which doubles as local hot spot Highbar.

Rooms

To say these rooms are made for after-dark high jinks would be an understatement. when you first walk in, blue backlight hits you and the dim halogen lighting – while less than ideal for makeup application and other grooming – is soothing, otherworldly and sexy. Blackout curtains stretch twilight to 24 hours a day. The bed takes up most of the room, so comfy you might never want to wake up.

Separating the bathroom and entrance area from the bedroom are white mirrored double doors carved with an intricate Moroccan pattern that creates a “jewel box effect.” Sparkly crystal chandeliers add to the fantasy.

Now, for the open-concept bathroom: The toilet and shower are on opposite sides of the narrow entrance hallway, and while the loo has a door that closes, only transparent glass separates the shower from the rest of the boudoir. It’s sensual and beautiful, but don’t bring your mom here, or anyone else you don’t want to see naked.

Amenities

If you manage to leave the compound, the Dream offers beach towels and chair service through the Boucher Brothers’ stand on the sand. In-house, complete concierge services are available.

Service

Warm and personal, yet professional. Staff was warm, gracious and eager to go beyond the call of duty to take care of you.

Food

The Tudor House restaurant features simple American cuisine (with Mediterranean accents) and indoor and outdoor seating – its casual, airy ambience makes it as much neighbourhood beach café as fine-dining destination. The restaurant provides room service and takeout, and the dishes I sampled were fresh, light and flavourful.

Verdict

Magical. nothing like some art deco glamour paired with Eastern sensuality and humour to spice up your South Beach sojourn. Plus, Dream’s ideal location makes its restaurant a local hangout. My only complaint? The Tudor building only has one (slow) elevator.

Special to The Globe and Mail

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By Serena GordonHealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 25 (HealthDay News) — two of the most common and dreaded illnesses in America may share a connection, with new research suggesting that having insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes raises your risk of developing the brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

After adjusting for other risk factors, the Japanese study found that people with the highest levels of fasting insulin had nearly six times the odds of having plaque deposits between nerves in the brain, compared to people with the lowest levels of fasting insulin.

Those with the highest scores on a measure of insulin resistance (where cells become less able to use insulin effectively) had about five times the odds of having brain plaques vs. those with the lowest scores on the insulin-resistance test, the study found.

In fact, “the risk of plaque-type Alzheimer’s disease pathology increases in a linear relationship with diabetes-related factors,” according to one study author, Dr. Kensuke Sasaki, an assistant professor in the department of neuropathology at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan.

Results of the study appear in the Aug. 25 online issue of Neurology.

Both type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease have been rapidly increasing in incidence, so much so that experts worry the illnesses may overwhelm the health-care system in the coming years if nothing is done.

While numerous studies have found a link between cognitive decline and dementia in people with type 2 diabetes, the current study sought to determine the reason for that link.

Using autopsies from 135 Japanese adults, the researchers were able to compare if different indicators of insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes correlated with the development of plaque deposits between the nerves in the brain (neuritic plaques) or neurofibrillary tangles, which are found in dying cells in the brain. Plaques and tangles are thought by many to be the two main causes of the destruction of brain tissue seen in Alzheimer’s disease.

All of those autopsied died between 1998 and 2003. in 1988, they had undergone numerous tests as part of an ongoing study on brain and heart health. the tests included an oral 2-hour glucose tolerance test, fasting blood sugar and insulin levels, and a measurement of insulin resistance using a test called homeostasis assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR).

The researchers adjusted the data to control for age, sex, blood pressure, cholesterol, body-mass index, smoking, exercise and cerebrovascular disease.

They found no association between diabetes risk factors and the development of tangles. however, higher levels of blood sugar two hours after eating, high fasting insulin levels and an elevated HOMA-IR score were associated with an increased risk of developing plaques. Fasting blood sugar levels were not associated with an increased risk of plaques, according to the study.

When the researchers compared varying levels of diabetes risk factors, such as fasting insulin, they found a linear association with the development of plaques. for example, fasting insulin was broken into three groups: low, medium and high. the low group didn’t have an increased risk of plaques, while the medium group had more than twice the risk of brain plaques, and those in the high group had a six times higher risk of plaques than those in the low group.

The researchers also performed a separate analysis to see if the presence of a gene long implicated in Alzheimer’s disease (ApoE4) would have an effect on the association between diabetes risk factors and the development of plaques. It did: Those with the ApoE4 gene has the strongest association between high blood sugar levels, insulin resistance and fasting insulin levels and the development of plaques.

“Research has been linking diabetes to dementia, and probably to Alzheimer’s, and this study is one more bit of evidence to say that we’d better get a handle on this,” said Dr. Richard Bergenstal, president of medicine and science for the American Diabetes Association.

Bergenstal said this study’s findings are likely applicable to people with both type 2 and type 1 diabetes, and possibly to those with pre-diabetes, as well.

“this study fits into a body of literature looking at the relationship between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. this area is being pretty aggressively researched for a number of reasons. Would better control of type 2 diabetes improve the cognitive fate of those with the disease, and is there some way we can intervene in glucose metabolism that might affect Alzheimer’s?” said William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer for the Alzheimer’s Association.

“If you have diabetes, it’s certainly a good idea to keep it under control while we’re sorting out the research,” Bergenstal said.

“Although we don’t know anything that can prevent Alzheimer’s disease right now, I do think there are a lot of good reasons for people to try to prevent type 2 diabetes, much of which can potentially be avoided with regular physical activity and weight maintenance,” said Thies. “Preventing or controlling diabetes is good for all kinds of reasons, and also because it might contribute to your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.”

More information

Learn more about what steps you can take to help maintain your brain health from the Alzheimer’s Association.

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