If you’re looking for a natural, quick, and very effective treatment for inflammation, cryotherapy is a must! Most people are afraid of the cold, but that mindset will change once you realize how great cryotherapy makes you feel.
To help give our clients our expert frequency recommendation, we always ask our clients on their first visit if they are using cryotherapy to treat a specific condition. Not everyone has a specific condition they want to treat with whole body cryotherapy, but inflammation is a silent killer, so cryotherapy is a great way to maintain good health.
Here’s some common conditions that cryotherapy is used to treat, and how long you can expect to feel the effects.
MOOD/ENDORPHIN BOOST
If you’re looking for an instant boost of endorphins (the happy hormone), one cryotherapy treatment will boost your mood for hours or days, whether you have a mood disorder or not. Mood disorders may be caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors. Science has proven that higher endorphin levels can reduce pain and increase pleasure. Those who do cryotherapy treatments consistently a few times a week have seen a significant decrease in their anxiety and depression symptoms. It is important to understand the factors contributing to your mood. Certain health conditions and symptoms are known to potentially cause low endorphin levels. If you feel like your mood affects your daily life, it is recommended to do cryotherapy at least 3 times a week for 1-3 months, then evaluate your progress to determine your regimen going forward.
PAIN RELIEF
When it comes to managing pain, the length of time the effect of cryotherapy last depends on the condition that is causing the pain and the level of pain. If you have a recent injury, like a sprain, the pain relief may last a few hours after one whole body cryotherapy treatment. If you have a chronic condition, like arthritis, the pain relief may last a few days after one cryotherapy treatment. If you have a chronic condition and do cryotherapy 3-7 days a week, it is possible to eliminate your pain completely. Depending on the severity of the condition and if the pain does go away, chances are the pain will return if you stop doing regular cryotherapy treatments.
WEIGHT LOSS
If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s tough to say how long the effects of whole body cryotherapy will last. The effect of whole body cryotherapy on weight loss really depends on what is causing the weight gain; it could be fat and/or excess fluid.
If whole body cryotherapy is done consistently, it is known to boost your metabolism due to thermogenesis, and it can help you burn 500-800 calories daily.
If the weight gain is caused by excess fluid on the body, one whole body cryotherapy treatment will help you feel less bloated and swollen. It may or may not change the scale, but the effects will last about 6-12 hours, because whatever is causing the swelling will most likely be triggered and come back.
If whole body cryotherapy treatments are implemented religiously most days of the week, bad fat (white fat) can be converted to good fat (brown fat). When this happens, you lose the fat deposits throughout your body (abdomen, love handles, thighs, butt) and you burn more fat 24/7 because brown fat is more metabolically active. To maintain this effect long term without consistent cryotherapy sessions, it is tough to say how long it will last. Hormones partially regulate this type of change. Maintaining your body composition depends on pretty much everything, lifestyle, age, hormones, metabolic rate, genetics, etc.
Brown fat may be the hero contributing to weight loss from continuous whole body cryotherapy sessions, however, let’s not get this type of “fat loss” confused with apoptosis (cell death) from other thermogenic treatments, like Cryoskin. If you’re looking to naturally get rid of a specific area of unwanted fat, Cryoskin will be your new favorite fat loss and skin tightening treatment.
INFLAMMATION
If you don’t know this by now, inflammation is a silent killer, and a symptom of our body trying to maintain a balanced environment. If someone has an acute injury, such as a soft tissue sprain or tear, depending on the severity and their immune response, the effects of one cryotherapy treatment may last 3-8 hours.
If someone has chronic inflammation, such as a long-term reoccurring injury or an autoimmune disease, they may experience constant swelling, stiffness, fatigue, various skin conditions, and many other symptoms. Frequent whole body cryotherapy treatments (most days of the week) can help fight the pestering symptoms of inflammation to prevent flair ups and help you enjoy life without aches and pains.
SLEEP
Good sleep is everything! All our clients say they have better sleep the days they do whole body cryotherapy, so it’s safe to say you can expect better quality sleep after one whole body cryotherapy treatment. Our clients swear cryotherapy is the greatest thing of all time, however, those who preach about cryo are doing it regularly. There are many factors that keep people up at night, and cryotherapy is known to help many of those triggers and provide relief for the effects caused by sleep deprivation. If you’re experiencing poor quality sleep on a regular basis, then it’s best to do cryotherapy most days of the week to avoid restless nights.
FOCUS
If your brain is feeling foggy, you can expect one whole body cryotherapy session to sharpen your thinking and boost your concentration level for the day. Brain fog may be caused by several health conditions; however, some common causes are high levels of inflammation, hormonal changes, stress, sleep deprivation, and medications. Cryotherapy is known to increase performance of cognitive functions and initial studies suggest cryotherapy may be an effective early intervention for mild cognitive impairment. If you are living in a mental fog on a regular basis and/or want to slow down age-related cognitive changes, regular whole body cryotherapy treatments will improve attention and cognitive processing speed. Unfortunately, there is not enough research to determine the long-term effects cryotherapy has on cognitive function and preventing dementia, however, there is strong scientific evidence that supports cryotherapy may become an effective early intervention for dementia or Alzheimer’s.
EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT
Keep in mind, everyone is different. Inflammation can be a silent killer. Cryotherapy is primarily used to reduce and prevent inflammation. How long someone has been experiencing inflammation and the degree of inflammation may affect the rate they notice sustainable effects from cryotherapy treatments. Cryotherapy activates all the systems in the body; circulatory, nervous, immune, lymphatic, endocrine, muscular, etc. If the response from any of these systems is impaired, it may affect how quickly and how long you can maintain the effects of cryotherapy. If you have questions regarding the effects of cryotherapy for a specific ailment, it is best to talk to an experienced cryotherapy expert. You can request a consultation or we can answer your questions during your next visit.