Cryohealthcare
Cryohealthcare helped me improve my energy, mood, and so much more.
A while back, I got a WellnessFX blood test. It measures your cardiovascular, metabolic, liver, kidney, bone health, and much more! One take-away I got from my blood test results: My inflammation is slightly higher than I’d like it to be. In addition to dietary changes, adding more recovery time to my fitness regime, and sleeping more, I decided to try Cold Thermogenesis/Cryotherapy at Cryohealthcare to speed up my exercise recovery rate and reduce inflammation.
What is Cold Thermogenesis & Cryotherapy?
Regular exposure to cold temperatures (cold thermogenesis) causes the body to increases the rate of cellular activity and raise your core temperature. This causes you to burn more fat calories, increase metabolic activity, and experience other benefits (listed later in the blog).
There are two ways to do cold thermogenesis… Not extreme and extreme.
- Not extreme methods: cold showers, swimming in cold water, and lowering your house thermostat to increase cold tolerance.
- Extreme methods: Neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse and many other cold extremists advocate full body ice baths and Cryotherapy.
You do NOT need to do Cryotherapy to benefit from cold thermogenesis, but it’s an easy hack if you want to achieve the benefits quickly. In my opinion, it’s also more pleasant than taking long ice baths.
USCyrotherapy.com defines Whole Body Cryotherapy as “exposure to subzero temperatures.”
WebMD explains the Whole Body Cryotherapy process… Basically, you stand in a tank and expose your body to temperatures as low as -240 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cryotherapy Risks
I know, it sounds crazy to stand in a chamber that is over -200 degrees Fahrenheit! It kind of is… I’m warning you now that there are risks involved.
- It is not approved by the FDA.
- A woman in Nevada died from Cryotherapy because she did it alone. Read more about it here.
- Other risks include frostbite and hypothermia if you’re not careful.
Cryotherapy Precautions
- Gradually increase your exposure to cold over time. If you skip this step, your dive reflex may overreact. When the body is submerged in cold water, this reflex causes the body to selectively shut down certain parts in order to conserve energy for survival.
- Start with putting cold water on your face.
- Then, use ice packs.
- Take cold showers.
- Work up to sitting in an ice bath for 15 minutes (See directions here).
- Finally, try Cryotherapy if you want to take it to the next level.
- Take precaution by going to a safe Cryotherapy center. Make sure the specialists check your blood pressure before your first session, require you to wear gloves, socks, slippers, underwear, a mask, and a hat. You can work up to 3 minute sessions in the cryo chamber, but they should never be longer than 3 minutes.
- If you have a serious health condition, talk to your doctor before trying cryotherapy.
Cryotherapy Benefits
Now that we’ve gone over the risks, let’s discuss the possible benefits…
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- Fat Loss: A human study found that cold exposure can increase calorie expenditure, and may aid in fat loss.
- Lower Inflammation: Clinical studies show that Cryotherapy can improve circulation activity. Wholebodycyrotherapy.org explains that it can “decrease inflammation by clearing toxins and metabolic waste with a supply of oxygen and nutrient enriched blood to stimulate cellular regeneration (faster healing).”
- Boost in Mood/Stress Relief: Clinical Studies found that Cryotherapy causes the release of endorphins (the body’s pain inhibitors/mood elevator) and significantly reduced the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms in people.
- Pain Relief: Cryotherapy has been used to reduce pain in people with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (See a clinical study here!).
- Accelerates Recovery: Treatments have been adopted by top athletes for muscle and injury recovery.
- Potential Anti-Aging Benefits: Briefly freezing the outer layer of skin throughout the entire body causes deep layers of collagen to be disrupted. The body responds by producing more collagen. Collagen keeps skin looking youthful.
My Cryotherapy Experience
I could’ve just taken some ice baths, but I wanted to experience the wonderful world of Cryo. I must have done about 8-10 sessions over a course of 2 months at Cryo Health Care in Los Angeles, a very trendy place in L.A.
When I went for my first visit, the Cryohealthcare staff took my blood pressure and led me to a dressing room where I could put on my robe, high knee socks, slippers, gloves, ear muffs, and mask.
Then, I waited in line to get my freeze on.
For my first session, I was only permitted to stay in the chamber for 1:30. The second time, I was able to do 2 minutes. For all of my other sessions, I did a full 3 minutes and loved every second of it. You’re completely dry in the chamber, no ice cubes, no water… It’s like mist of coldness touching your skin.
Bonus: Cryohealthcare let me pick my favorite music genre to listen to while standing half naked in the cryo chamber. I found that deep breaths and moving around made the time pass more quickly.
So did I experience the benefits that I referred to above? Let’s investigate…
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- Fat Loss: I dropped 2% body fat after my sessions. I took a bioelectrical impedance test to measure my body fat percentage before I started Cryo and after I finished my 8-10 sessions. My body fat percentage usually doesn’t budge unless I am putting in a lot of effort to my diet and sleep. I was pretty surprised to see my fat percentage drop because I didn’t change any lifestyle factors during the cryotherapy period. Of course, I can’t fully attribute the fat loss to cryotherapy, but it’s an interesting observation.
- Lower Inflammation: Unfortunately, I was a flake and didn’t measure my inflammation after my experience. Therefore, I don’t actually know if Cryotherapy lowered my inflammation. BUT I noticed my skin looked less inflamed. I was getting less breakouts. I can’t be sure that it was the cryotherapy that contributed to this, but it’s a safe bet.
- Boost in Mood/Stress Relief: I always looked forward to my 3 minutes of Cryo. I felt SO happy and non-sore after each session. I absolutely noticed that I had more energy and was more productive during my Cryotherapy phase.
- Pain Relief: I don’t have a lot of pain to begin with, so I can’t comment on this one.
- Accelerates Recovery: Cryotherapy stopped my post-workout soreness, something I usually experience.
- Potential Anti-Aging Benefits: I’m in my 20s, so I can’t comment on this one either. During one of my visits, I ran into Yolanda and David Foster from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills! Yolanda looks great for her age… maybe Cryotherapy is one of her beauty secrets. 😉
The Final Verdict
I had an amazing experience. Sure, my legs would turn a little pink when standing in the chamber, but that quickly went away after exiting.
I would 100% commit to a monthly Cryotherapy membership if I still lived in L.A. It was worth the investment. These days, I don’t do ice baths regularly, but if I feel like i need a boost of energy, am really sore, or have the time, I add it to my routine. Ice baths are not as fun as Cryotherapy, but on the bright side, ice baths don’t require me to drive in L.A. traffic to go freeze in an ice chamber for just 3 minutes.
I recommend Cryotherapy to anyone who deals with chronic pain, wants to have a trendy L.A./N.Y. experience, and/or wants to feel magical energy and happiness.
What’s your experience with cold thermogenesis? Let’s hear it in the comments below.
