10 Things You Didn’t Know About Standing In -200 Degree Cryotherapy Chamber But Should
By admin
A few months ago Dan and I were listening to Joe Rogan’s podcast while making breakfast. In the episode, Joe started on a tangent (like he often does) on his obsession with cryotherapy, therapy using freezing cold temperatures.
He mentioned that a few times a week he stands in chamber which gets as cold as -250 degrees Fahrenheit to help his body recover from tough workouts and life in general.
I was intrigued. I wanted to know more.
Lo and behold Charleston has a whole body cryotherapy (WBC) studio just down the road for my home.
While extreme cold has been used for treating ailments like arthritis and fibromyalga for years, the use of it on healthy folk like you and me to improve everyday life is relatively new. To have a place down the street, is pretty amazing.
Chill Out Charleston was prompt in their response to allow me to come in and pick their brains. And, of course I was prompt in accepting their invitation to actually try out the cryotherapy chamber.
What Is A Cryotherapy?
The idea of cryotherapy is basically the ice bath on steroids… We all know ice baths are good for you but do you want to have to soak in ice for up to 45 minutes to get the full benefits? I don’t. But 2-3 minutes? That is a bit more manageable.
The chamber stands about 10 feet tall, and resembles a stand up tanning bed. The top is complete open.
Once in, the floor rises up so that your head is exposed to the top. The tech will then ask you for your robe, which you hand to her/him leaving you standing in an open tube with nothing but socks and gloves on.
The temperature and time are set… generally 1-3 minutes of -220 to -274 degrees Fahrenheit.
10 Benefits To Use Cryotherapy & Freeze Your Bum Off
After my session, I had the opportunity to sit down with Tiffany. Her husband, Dr. Jeremiah Jimerson, is the man behind Chill Out Charleston and together these two are filled with knowledge and both answered all of my questions easily and confidently.
As Tiffany and Jeremiah (via email) began rattling off benefit after benefit after benefit, my mind grew excited. But at the same time skeptical. All these benefits from standing in a freezing tunnel for 2 minutes?
Is it too good to be true?
I had to find out, so before sitting down to write this post, I have spent days researching. Making sure that I too could share all these benefits with you.
- Reduces post exercise muscle soreness and increases recovery time between workouts. Source. When done within 24-hours of intense exercise, recovery is faster, muscle soreness is decreased and overall performance gains are increased. Chill Out Charleston currently services all players on our minor league hockey team, the Stingrays, and the minor baseball team, Riverdogs.
- Beneficial to helping treat rheumatic conditions such as arthritis, fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis. Sources suggest that the increased blood flow along with the anti-inflammatory properties can improve symptoms drastically.
- Due to the increased oxygen flowing to the skin, cryotherapy has been linked to improving cellulite, eczema, psoriasis, scarring and more! Where does this increase of blood come from? When the cold is introduced to the body, the body pulls blood to the core and away from the extremities (which is why these are more susceptible to frost bite), once out of the chamber and the body warms up, that rich that is not fully oxygenated from the treatment is quickly pushed back out and with it nutrients and oxygen.
- An increased metabolism. Much like it takes the body a long time to recover post workout, it takes the body a long time to recover from such cold conditions. The result is an increase metabolism working to burn 500-800 extra calories to warm you up. While it’s not a weight loss solution, it doesn’t hurt when paired with healthy eating and exercise.
- Hormone regulation. In fact, natural testosterone levels can increase 3 fold and the happy hormone, serotonin can also see drastic increases.
- The fountain of youth. Oxygenating the skin can have huge benefits for reducing fine lines and wrinkles, tightening the skin and yielding an overall rejuvenating result. Many of Dr. Jimerson’s clients give credit for to the cryosauna for their recent youthful results.
- Decreased lower back pain. Several studies, such as this one, have linked WBC to improvements in back pain for elderly patients. With decreased inflammation, soreness and tightness are both improved. As someone who suffers daily with back pain, this is of great interest. This week has been a great back week but I don’t know if I can pinpoint it to the single cryotherapy session or because this is my first week using a full body pillow. I’ll thank both.
- Instant rush. Because of the increased flow of endorphins brought on by the cold, an adrenaline rush or high is very common. Feelings of energy, excitement and happiness often follow sessions. Which also leads to the next benefit…
- Potentially effective for treating depression, anxiety and other mental disorders. Many studies have been conducted and evidence shows that whole body cryotherapy can lead to improvements in such orders due to the hormonal response that occurs.One study found that patients who had 15 WBC treatments over the course of 3 weeks reported depression symptoms decreased by 50%.
- And finally, improved libido! Who doesn’t want a better libido? The energy rush, the hormone regulations, rush of blood… it all goes into helping to increase overall sex drive.
I know what you’re wondering…
How Cold Is -220 Degrees?
It’s cold. But it isn’t unbearable.
My technician, Chelsea was extremely kind and informative. She could tell that I was nervous, which showed when she took my blood pressure.
Chelsea talked me through every step of the process and reminded me the entire thing was just 2 minutes, anyone could do it for 2 minutes.
She was right.
I hate, hate, HATE being cold but this was a different kind of cold. It was dry and to be honest, it was freezing but wasn’t what I thought -220 degrees would feel like.
My breasts and knees felt the chill the most.
Chelsea stood talking with me and snapping pictures which helped the 120-seconds fly by. Before I knew it I was trying to put my robe on as fast as possible to get out. I was cold
After I stepped out and got dressed, I was chilled for about an hour. I immediately felt an rage of energy. As I sat talking with Tiffany, I felt bad because I really wanted to just run around. I kept laughing at myself in my head and managed to stay focused on our conversation.
I did get a great workout in later though!
Am I a believer? I just might be. I would love the opportunity to use the WBC chamber more regularly as they say you really begin to notice the benefits after 3-5 visits. I’m even trying to talk my mom into a visit. She suffers from some muscle and nerve damage and I think it would be great for her.
Thank you Chill Out Charleston for such an informative adventure.
If you have any questions about cryotherapy please let me know down below, I am sure Dr Jeremiah wouldn’t mind answering them.
I love going outside to get cold then coming in to sit by the fire with a hot cup of chocolate!