Stress, poor sleep and jet lag

Poor sleep often has causes you can work on: stress that keeps the mind running at bedtime, light at the wrong time of day, a bedroom that is too hot or too cold, or a flight across several time zones. Those come first. A session of deep warmth, or two to three minutes of whole-body cold, can be a pleasant way to come down, but neither treats insomnia, and sleep that has been poor for months is a question for a doctor.

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At a glance

Who you’ll see: Our team
Where: CREAMÉ, 350 Al Wasl Road, Jumeirah 1, Dubai
What may help: Iyashi Dôme Infrared ritual
Cryotherapy Whole-body cold

The short answer

When stress has settled into the body, a far-infrared ritual of deep warmth helps many people sleep and come down. It is a ritual, not a medical treatment, and we hold its bigger claims lightly.

What it is, and why it happens

Sleep comes when the body is allowed to wind down, and stress keeps it on alert. The system that sharpens you for a deadline or a difficult conversation also keeps the heart and mind running at night, and worry, or going over the day in bed, keeps it switched on. People differ a great deal in how much stress disturbs their sleep: for some, a hard week costs a night or two; for others, sleep falls apart, and for them a stressful stretch is more likely to turn into insomnia that lasts.

Light sets the body clock. Daylight, morning light especially, moves the clock earlier, so you feel sleepy at a sensible hour, while bright light late in the evening pushes it later; more time outdoors in the day has been linked to earlier sleep. Temperature matters too: sleep comes most easily as the body's core temperature falls, which is why a bedroom that is too warm keeps sleep light and broken.

Jet lag is the body clock out of step with local time after a flight across at least two time zones: broken sleep, sleepiness in the day, a foggy head, an unsettled stomach. The clock catches up a little each day, faster after flying west than east, so a long trip can take days to settle, and sleep lost on the journey makes it worse.

What may help

Iyashi Dôme · Infrared ritual

The Iyashi Dôme is a far-infrared capsule inspired by Japanese sand bathing: thirty minutes of building warmth with your head outside the whole time, turning into a proper sweat in the second half, then a shower and a rest, about an hour in all. It suits people who want a quiet, warm hour to come down from a stressful stretch, and better sleep is often why they come, though the independent research is limited, so we offer it as a ritual. As a standing ritual, one or two sessions a week; a block of ten is the classic shape. You will sweat a lot, and thirst or feeling a little light-headed for a short while is common, so drink water before and after. Pregnancy or breastfeeding, a heart condition, blood pressure that runs low or isn't controlled, alcohol in the last 24 hours and some medicines that affect how the body handles heat are reasons to skip it, and we check first.

Cryotherapy · Whole-body cold

Cryotherapy is the opposite sensation: two to three minutes of intense, dry cold at −80 to −90°C in a fully electric chamber, breathing ordinary air, about fifteen minutes in all. It suits people who would rather have a short, bracing reset: intense cold, over in minutes. Whether it helps sleep is not clear: the research on its effects is mixed, and it is not a treatment for stress or low mood. For general wellbeing, one to three sessions a week, starting with a first block of five to ten to find out what it does for you. Pink, tingling skin for a few minutes is common; less often a headache, dizziness, a short rise in blood pressure or itchy hives, and rarely a cold burn, which is why your skin must be completely dry. A heart condition, high blood pressure that isn't well controlled, Raynaud's or a cold allergy, a fever or an infection, and alcohol beforehand are among the reasons to skip it.

What to be careful with

Some medicines change how the body handles heat and fluid, among them antihistamines, water tablets, beta-blockers and some medicines for mental health, so tell us everything you take before a dome session. And if you have had heatstroke or another illness from heat, or you don't feel heat normally, the dome isn't for you.

Some common fixes work against sleep. A drink in the evening may help you fall asleep but leaves sleep more broken, and alcohol and caffeine can both leave you dehydrated, which makes jet lag worse. After a long flight, keep daytime naps to twenty or thirty minutes, so they don't eat into the night.

What matters in Dubai

Dubai's heat follows you to bed for much of the year, and humid heat is harder on sleep than dry heat, with still more waking and less deep and dreaming sleep. A bedroom that stays cool through the night helps, which in summer usually means air-conditioning, set cool rather than cold.

Dubai is a long-haul hub, and the direction you fly changes what helps. After flying east, toward Asia, bright light in the early morning helps the clock catch up, and bright light in the evening holds it back; after flying west, toward Europe or the Americas, evening light helps and early-morning light is better avoided. In the two or three days before you fly, moving your bedtime an hour a day toward the new time zone gives you a head start.

In Ramadan, the nights change shape around iftar and suhoor, and sleep tends to shorten: in a review of 24 studies, it fell by about an hour a night, from 7.2 to 6.4 hours on average, with slightly more sleepiness in the day. If you are fasting, book the dome after iftar, when you can drink before and after.

When to see a doctor first

See a doctor if poor sleep has gone on for months, makes everyday life hard, or hasn't improved after changing your habits. Insomnia that has lasted three months or more is called long-term insomnia, and a doctor looks for what is behind it. The treatment often offered is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, which works on the thoughts and habits that keep you awake; doctors rarely prescribe sleeping pills for it.

Loud snoring with pauses in breathing, gasping or choking in the night, or feeling very tired all day, can be sleep apnoea, which needs a medical assessment: untreated, it is linked to high blood pressure, heart disease and accidents caused by tiredness. Low mood or anxiety that doesn't lift deserves a doctor's time too, and if you ever have thoughts of harming yourself, get help straight away: call 998 in the UAE or go to the nearest emergency department.

Questions people ask

Does an infrared sauna like the Iyashi Dôme help with sleep and stress?

Sleep is the reason many people come, but we can't promise it. Research on warm baths suggests timing matters: warming up for as little as ten minutes, an hour or two before bed, helped people fall asleep sooner, probably because the body cools afterwards. Whether a session in the dome works the same way isn't known; for stress, it is a quiet, warm hour to come down, offered as a ritual rather than a treatment.

What helps poor sleep at home?

The simple habits doctors suggest first: get up at the same time every day and go to bed only when you feel sleepy; give yourself an hour to wind down, in a dark, quiet room; exercise in the day, but not in the four hours before bed; and skip tea, coffee and alcohol for at least six hours before bed, and screens just before it.

Is it bad to sleep with the air-conditioning on?

Not in itself: heat disturbs sleep more. Cold air still affects the body overnight, though, so bedding and nightclothes that suit the room matter. And if the air-conditioning runs for only part of the night, a review of sleep and heat suggests the first part.

How long does jet lag last?

Roughly a day for each time zone crossed, a little less after flying west: the body clock shifts by about an hour a day after flying east and about an hour and a half after flying west. Flying home to Dubai from London, three or four hours east, may take three or four days to settle; from New York, eight or nine hours east, a week or more.

Jet lag after a long flight into Dubai: should I book a session?

If you would like to, once you feel well, and not if you drank on the flight: the dome waits 24 hours after alcohol, and the cold chamber waits too. Neither replaces daylight at the right time, which is what moves the body clock, but an hour of warmth or a few minutes of cold can be a pleasant part of the first day back.

Can a wellness session help with stress, and what can't it do?

Many people find an hour of warmth in the dome, or a few minutes of cold, a pleasant way to come down from a stressful stretch. Neither treats stress, anxiety, low mood or insomnia, and the research on both is limited. If stress or poor sleep goes on for weeks, or low mood doesn't lift, see a doctor; and if you ever have thoughts of harming yourself, call 998 in the UAE or go to the nearest emergency department.

Sleep during Ramadan: what helps, and can I still have a session?

Sleep tends to shorten in Ramadan: in a review of 24 studies, by about an hour a night on average, with slightly more sleepiness in the day. The usual habits still help: a cool, dark, quiet room, time to wind down, and tea and coffee kept well away from the hours you sleep; after a short night, keep a daytime nap to twenty or thirty minutes, so it doesn't eat into the next night. Sessions are possible after iftar, when you can drink before and after.

Related concerns

Recovery and sore muscles

Sources

Updated 28 October 2026

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