10 Shocking Benefits Of Cryotherapy You Didn’t Know Existed
Cryotherapy is a type of therapy where you go into a chamber that’s cooled to -200 to -240 degrees. The session only lasts up to three minutes so your core temperature never drops.
While it sounds like an uncomfortable three minutes, it’s painless and has many health benefits. Here are 10 shocking benefits of cryotherapy treatment that everyone should know about.
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Cancer Treatment
Chemotherapy is the most common form of cancer treatment. Chemotherapy is an umbrella term for a cocktail of specific medication that is created to attack cells in the human body. While aggressive chemotherapy has been successful in treating millions of cancer patients, it is far from a perfect treatment.
Chemo drugs are created to attack active cells in the body. Therefore, it attacks everything, not just the cancer cells. It’s why cancer patients get so sick during treatment. However, it attacks the fastest growing cells first, which is the cancerous ones.
It’s always important to do everything you can to try and rid your body of cancer, not solely stick to chemotherapy. Cryotherapy is a wonderful treatment to add to your chemotherapy regimen. What you need to know is that cryotherapy to treat cancer is done differently.
Instead of going into the chamber to freeze your entire body, the cold is delivered right to the cancer cells through a needle. The doctor uses an ultrasound or portable MRI or CT machine to make sure the needle goes into the correct place. From there, argon gas or liquid nitrogen is delivered to the cancer cells.
Relieves Arthritis Pain
Arthritis is a disorder that causes inflammation and stiffness in the joints throughout the body. Some people have arthritis in only one area, such as their hands, knees, or neck; while other people have arthritis throughout most of their body.
There are different types of arthritis. Osteoarthritis is an inflammatory joint disorder. Rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis are both autoimmune disorders.
Whether you have arthritis in one joint or a dozen of them, it’s a painful way to live. Cryotherapy can do wonders for patients who suffer from arthritis pain.
The cryotherapy chamber is designed to reduce your skin’s surface to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Once your skin receptors feel the cold temperatures, they will send messages to your brain to release anti-inflammatory proteins through your body that will give you natural pain relief.
Sports Medicine Therapy
Cryotherapy first began to assist with sports therapy treatments. It has many benefits for athletes who put their bodies through a lot of wear and tear.
A cryotherapy treatment after a game or a tough practice session can reduce recovery time by decreasing muscle soreness and inflammation. It can also reduce or eliminate the delayed onset muscle soreness that tends to come the day after tough exercise.
If you have a sports injury, receiving cryotherapy immediately after the injury occurs can greatly reduce your recovery time. It will also increase your muscle strength and joint function, and it will give you an overall faster return to your training.
Beauty Treatments
Fewer people are going under the knife and more people are turning toward more holistic methods of preserving their youth. Cryotherapy is one of the most effective anti-aging treatments that you can receive.
There are different types of cryotherapy for skin care. One type is a ten-minute treatment done with cryogenically cooled air. The treatment will activate collagen production in much deeper levels of the skin, which promotes rejuvenation and elasticity.
Another type of treatment is a 30-minute healing and hydrating treatment, It will cleanse and moisturize the skin to stimulate oxygenation and enhance the skin’s appearance. You can also choose combination therapies to get one tailored to your needs.
Weight Loss
If you’re trying to lose weight, combining your current weight loss program with cryotherapy can help accelerate your weight loss naturally. A single, three-minute session burns up to 800 calories.
When the cryotherapy treatment rapidly cools your body, it gives your body a type of shock that tells it to warm itself up. When your body begins to warm itself, it boosts your metabolism and burns calories.
While cryotherapy is a fantastic immune system boost, it’s not going to solely melt the pounds away. You should stick to eating healthy foods and exercising on a regular basis.
If you eat healthy and you exercise on top of regular cryotherapy treatments, you might be able to lose an extra pound or more each week. Depending on how much you have to lose, it could cut weeks or even months off of your time to reach your weight loss goals.
Keeps Addicts On Track
While there aren’t currently any studies done on addicts using cryotherapy, many believe it can help addiction issues. When you receive the cryotherapy, it releases endorphins in your brain similar to the rush that an addict would get when getting high.
When addicts feel a craving coming on, they can go and get a cryotherapy treatment to safely get an endorphin rush and suppress their cravings.
Chronic Pain Treatment
Cryotherapy for pain isn’t only reserved for athletes and people with arthritis. If you have other forms of chronic pain, cryotherapy can help you too.
Fibromyalgia is a common form of chronic pain that worsens due to inflammation in the body. Getting cryotherapy can relieve virtually any type of pain in the body.
Treats Depression And Anxiety
Studies have been done on cryotherapy for depression and anxiety treatment. You can’t expect to get one cryotherapy treatment and be cured of any anxiety and depression, but it can temporarily relieve the symptoms.
In a study done with a group of 60 people, a study group who received cryotherapy treatments in addition to psycho-pharmacotherapy. The study group had a significant decrease in anxiety and depression symptoms compared to the control group that only received psycho-pharmacotherapy.
If medication alone isn’t relieving your depression and anxiety, try a cryotherapy session and see how you feel afterward. Receiving a few sessions a week might dramatically improve your mood.
Wart Removal
Cryotherapy for wart removal is different than the whole-body cryotherapy. You have probably heard of people getting their warts frozen off of their body, and that is a form of cryotherapy.
Cryotherapy for wart removal is a form of cryosurgery, similar to cryotherapy for cancer. However, it’s done with cryogenically cooled air in a spray gun to only freeze the wart site and no other part of your body.
Cures Insomania
Cryotherapy might be the most interesting and bazaar cure for insomnia, but it works for many people. It might seem like some serious torture just for a few extra hours of sleep per night, but cryotherapy isn’t as bad as you think.
In fact, when the endorphins release, you will receive a rush of euphoria that makes the trip into the frozen chamber well worth it. It will make the blood flow faster through your veins, which increases oxygen to the brain.
Your brain will release the melatonin telling you that your body needs rest more regularly after being supplied with extra oxygen, and you will begin sleeping soundly at a decent hour.
Conclusion
Cryotherapy might seem like an instant cure-all, but it’s not. It’s a therapy that can reduce symptoms over time if you continue your treatments.
Contact a cryotherapy center near you and book a session so you can try it out. It’s never too late to relieve some aches or preserve your youthful appearance.