Explore the Top Cryotherapy Benefits for Health and Wellness
Cryotherapy benefits many, but it’s still a relatively unknown wellness practice. When you go into the cold environment of an ice bath on purpose, your body tries hard to regulate your core temperature. This also strengthens your blood circulation, helps relax muscles after exercise, and makes your immune system better.
So, without further ado, let’s discuss the science behind cryotherapy benefits, and learn how cryotherapy helps us achieve the best version of ourselves!
Cryotherapy Science
Cryotherapy works by increasing your body’s natural response to the cold. This is a centuries-old survival mechanism designed to save your core body temperature and keep you safe and alive!
During a cryotherapy session, your body is exposed to an extremely cold temperature for a short period. The sudden drop in temperature causes your blood vessels to constrict (also known as vasoconstriction), which reduces blood flow to your extremities and re-directs your blood towards your vital organs, protecting them from getting too cold. The vasoconstriction process is your body’s natural way of conserving heat. After that, vasodilation expands your blood vessels and circulates your blood around the body. Pretty cool, right?
The cold temperature within a cryotherapy chamber causes your body to experience a state of thermal shock. This causes your cells to slow down their metabolic processes and enter a state of preservation to keep you alive. This slowdown allows your cells to conserve energy and resources. In addition, the cold temperature activates the production of cold-shock proteins, which can improve your immune function, and enhance your mood (1)! All great things.
Check out this cool YouTube video that explains the science behind cryotherapy benefits:
What is Cryotherapy Used For?
Now that we understand more of the science behind cryotherapy, let’s take a closer look at some specific health benefits of it! You will get a better idea of how cryotherapy can help with muscle recovery, mood-boosting, mental health, and more.
The vasoconstriction and vasodilation can help flush toxins out of the body and deliver oxygen-rich blood to your tissues, which can help in recovery and healing. The production of cold-shock proteins can boost your immune system. The metabolic slowdown experienced can help with temporary weight loss through sweat. Additionally, the release of endorphins (our body’s natural painkillers) can improve your overall mood and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Let’s have a deeper look at these cryotherapy benefits.
Muscle Recovery
One of the most popular cryotherapy benefits is its help with muscle recovery and enhanced physical performance. This is why cryotherapy is often used by athletes or anyone engaged in regular strenuous physical activity.
The main processes that drive these benefits revolve around vasoconstriction and vasodilation, which stand for blood vessels shrinking and widening. As mentioned earlier, this helps you flush out any toxins that reside in your muscles and deliver oxygen-rich blood to your tissues, which helps speed up post-workout muscle recovery (2).
The repeated widening and constricting of the blood vessels that happens when you’re exposed to the cold is called the Lewis Hunting Response. Read more about it here: “How Does The Hunting Response Work?”.
Inflammation
The cold can also help lower inflammation, which is a process that happens so often in our bodies, especially after working out. By reducing inflammation, cryotherapy can potentially help to alleviate muscle soreness and boost your immune system (3).
For these reasons, cryotherapy has become a powerful tool and popular addition to many professional athlete’s training routines.
Cryotherapy Boosts Your Mood
Cryotherapy can have positive impacts on your mental health as well. As we mentioned above, the extreme cold kickstarts endorphin production, which is your body’s natural “feel good” chemicals. The release of endorphins can result in an excellent mood boost following a cryotherapy session, like a “cryo high”!
The enhanced blood circulation can lead to more oxygen supplied to your brain, leading to improved cognitive function and performance (4). Cryotherapy can even help you with anxiety and depression symptoms (5). There are just so many cryotherapy benefits!
Is Cryotherapy Safe?
While there are some great cryotherapy benefits, it’s important to also consider the potential downsides. Like any treatment, cryotherapy could be risky, and certain people may need to exercise more caution or avoid cryotherapy completely.
Cryotherapy – Side Effects
After a cryotherapy session, you might experience:
- redness,
- irritation on the skin,
- frostbite,
- cold-induced burns,
- eye injuries.
The more serious side effects of cryotherapy are only going to happen if you’re not being careful. Also, the extreme cold can cause an increased heart rate and blood pressure, making cryotherapy potentially risky for those with preexisting heart conditions.
It’s also worth noting that while cryotherapy can help with pain relief and reduce inflammation, it’s not a cure-all for chronic conditions, so it should not be considered as a replacement for traditional medical treatments.
Cryotherapy – Risks
While there are many cryotherapy benefits, this practice is not suitable for everyone. For example, those with high blood pressure, poor blood circulation, or nerve conditions should be more cautious. Pregnant women and people with severe diabetes should avoid cryotherapy completely.
How to be careful during a cryotherapy session? Sessions should be limited to 10-15 minutes, and you should follow all the safety guidelines. Also, never use the cryotherapy chamber alone. If you don’t feel well, leave immediately. Always consult a healthcare professional before starting any new treatment, especially cryotherapy.
Learn more about safe cryotherapy practices in our article on “Ice Baths – Discover the Benefits of Cold Water Immersion Therapy”.
Conclusion
The bodily responses that are triggered by the extreme cold, such as vasoconstriction, vasodilation, and production of cold-shock proteins and endorphins, can translate to so many health benefits. For example, these are:
- muscle recovery,
- mood-boosting,
- enhancing cognitive abilities,
- even temporary weight loss.
Even with the potential cryotherapy benefits, be mindful of risks and precautions. Cryotherapy isn’t for everyone, but for many this a great addition to many people’s health and wellness routine. Thanks for reading, and cheers to your health and wellness!
Reference list
- White GE, Wells GD. Cold-water immersion and other forms of cryotherapy: physiological changes potentially affecting recovery from high-intensity exercise. Extrem Physiol Med. 2013 Sep 1;2(1):26. doi: 10.1186/2046-7648-2-26. PMID: 24004719; PMCID: PMC3766664.
- Diong J, Kamper SJ. Cold water immersion (cryotherapy) for preventing muscle soreness after exercise. Br J Sports Med. 2014 Sep;48(18):1388-9. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2013-092433. Epub 2013 Apr 25. PMID: 23620473.
- Janský L, Pospísilová D, Honzová S, Ulicný B, Srámek P, Zeman V, Kamínková J. Immune system of cold-exposed and cold-adapted humans. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1996;72(5-6):445-50. doi: 10.1007/BF00242274.
- Yankouskaya A, Williamson R, Stacey C, Totman JJ, Massey H. Short-Term Head-Out Whole-Body Cold-Water Immersion Facilitates Positive Affect and Increases Interaction between Large-Scale Brain Networks. Biology (Basel). 2023 Jan 29;12(2):211. doi: 10.3390/biology12020211.
Shevchuk NA. Adapted cold shower as a potential treatment for depression. Med Hypotheses. 2008;70(5):995-1001. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2007.04.052.
