One of the coolest things you can do to help combat muscle aches and inflammation is cryotherapy, which may sound like a new ‘trend’ but in fact has been around for decades to improve sports performance levels, assist with weight loss, increase skin health, and stop the ageing process.
We can hear you gasping and repeating the words ‘ageing process?!’ Yes! Cold weather helps your body in so many ways, including keeping pores clog-free, improving your sleep, and burning fat. Here’s how extreme cold conditions contribute to anti-ageing.
Removing toxins
As freezing mist exposes the skin to sub-zero temperatures, the body goes into survival mode, and this means your blood supply will flow as fast as possible to the most vital organs to conduce more oxygen and nutrients. As you emerge from a cryosauna, the body’s arteries, veins and capillaries – now enriched with a blast of nutrients – are flushed back to the rest of the body.
Reduction of inflammation
Inflammation has been known to be an underlying cause and catalyst for a variety of illnesses, and keeping it in check is one of the best things you can do to prevent disease. In cryotherapy, allowing super-cooled air to circulate around you means your body floods itself with anti-inflammatory proteins and antioxidants to help protect itself from the freezing temperatures. Gone are the days of swollen fingers and toes!
Boosted metabolism and collagen production
When blasted with an Arctic cloud like in cryotherapy, the thyroid responds positively and begins to increase thyroxine levels, which leads to the mobilisation of fatty acids – therefore weight loss due to metabolism being given a ‘kick start’. Mitochondria organelles (body cells responsible for creating 90% of our energy) are stimulated by freezing temperatures and this can protect the body from aging, diabetes, heart disease, and in some cases, improvement in cellulite.
Stronger immunity
Cold-water therapy has been shown to regulate immunity because it directly impacts your lymphatic system, which relies on muscle contraction to pump lymph fluid through vessels. If you don’t exercise, the fluid stagnates and toxins build up, manifesting in colds, joint pain, infection and disease. The cold causes your lymph vessels to contract, forcing fluid to be pumped and flushing waste out, which then triggers the immune system to attack and destroy any unwanted substances in the fluid. Say good bye to the winter ‘cold’ by fighting it with the cold! Now isn’t that a bit ironic?
Skin is rejuvenated
When you bathe in cold water, it tightens and protects the pores that get opened when skin is exposed to the sun. The cold leads to constriction of the blood vessels, known as vasoconstriction, so small veins and arteries shrink and become less noticeable.
Whole body cryotherapy treatment may help visibly reduce cellulite due to the sudden exposure of extreme cold helping produce collagen, which improves elasticity and firmness of the skin.
Faster recovery time
As we get older, moving the body can become more painful, however experiencing freeze therapy can aid in faster recovery from workouts, or any physical activity for that matter, eliminating downtime while sore tissues rebound. It also helps in the removal of lactic acid build up after exercising.
The ice age is upon us! So whether it’s quickly ducking in for a cold shower, going away to live in an ice-cold country (which, let’s face it, is not at the top of anyone’s list!) or getting blasted in a cryosauna with sub-zero air, a little bit of cold will certainly turn on the physical and mental anti-ageing switches.
One cryotherapy session at The Float Space is just 3 minutes long, so you won’t have to be freezing for hours at a time to get the results you’re after! Contact us today to find out more!
