Cryotherapy & The Extraordinary Benefits Of Being Cold

It’s been around for more than a century, but cryotherapy is just now gaining recognition as a way to improve health and wellness. If you haven’t heard about it yet, you likely will soon. With the emergence of cryosaunas — one-person chambers that are popping up in spas and gyms across the country — cryotherapy is finally becoming mainstream.

The benefits of cryotherapy are based on one simple idea: subjecting your body to extreme cold can help it heal. We do this naturally when we ice a sprained ankle or a sore muscle after a workout. But cryotherapy takes the process to another level, exposing the whole body to temperatures as low as minus-300 degrees Fahrenheit for two or three minutes at a time.

What is cryotherapy?

Cryotherapy is a therapeutic treatment where the body is exposed to extremely low temperatures for a short amount of time. During a cryotherapy session, which usually lasts two to four minutes, your skin will be exposed to temperatures between minus-166 and minus-292 degrees Fahrenheit. The goal is for the body’s core temperature to drop to around 50 degrees Fahrenheit — which can help reduce inflammation and chronic pain.

Cryotherapy was introduced in the 1970s as an alternative treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, where it was found that patients who underwent cryo treatments had reduced inflammation and joint pain. Since then, different types of cryotherapy have been used as alternative treatments for conditions that include multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia and inflammatory bowel disease.

Benefits

Cryotherapy is said to have a number of benefits, including weight loss, better sleep, and more energy. However, if you’re someone who has an injury or pain in a specific spot on your body, such as an inflamed knee or a pulled muscle in your back, you may want to consider local cryotherapy.