Tried & Tested: CRYO hyper-cooling treatment

Stepping into a cold, misty chamber in nothing but your bra and undies with temps dropping down to anywhere between -110 to -150 degrees may sound humanly impossible (and admittedly, kind of dangerous) but in fact, CRYO is a popular treatment that is said to have all sorts of physical benefits for both athletes and everyday people wanting to improve their overall health and wellness.

Intrigued? So were we, which is why we bit the bullet and tried it out for ourselves. The verdict? As expected, it was f*cking cold – but somewhat refreshing and rejuvenating at the same time…

We were greeted by CRYO’s friendly staff who showed us to our own private change rooms. Here, we watched an intro video, signed a form and changed into our robes. Once we were in the treatment room, we were provided with gloves, socks and ugg boots (so that our little tootsies wouldn’t freeze and/or fall off).

Any questions before we start? YES! HEAPS!

Is this safe? Can we breathe in nitrogen? How cold does it actually get? We’re not athletes – we exercise 3 to 4 times a week MAX (and moderately). In saying that, what benefits can we get from this? Is one session enough to see results?

In hindsight, we were probably super annoying.

“Anyone seeking muscle repair and recovery, pain management, anti-ageing benefits, accelerated injury recovery, boosting of the metabolism and general wellbeing is suited to CRYO,” reassures Ange Bowe of CRYO.

You had us at metabolism. As for post-exercise recovery, “inside the body, the natural response to the cold is an increase in blood flow to the internal organs and a flooding of red blood cells with oxygen, nutrients and enzymes,” Ange goes on to explain. “Following the treatment, your temperature rapidly returns to normal releasing the enriched blood back into the skin and muscle tissues. This process in the blood helps to fight inflammation in the body, reduce muscle soreness and aids in muscle repair.”

You step into the CRYO machine where your body is covered in nitrogen mist that is – as mentioned previously – cooled anywhere between -110 to -150 degrees for up to 3 minutes. Because it was our first time, we only went to -110 degrees for 2 minutes. (Ha, only!)

At first, we thought to ourselves “oh this is easy – it’s actually not that cold” not realising that it gradually started getting colder and colder and -2 quickly turned to -20, and so on. We were encouraged to keep our bodies moving and our CRYO technician was a pro at distracting us (thank you!). Needless to say, that was the longest 2 minutes of our lives.

You’re handed back your robe to get you back to normal body temp. Although it personally took me a while to warm up (I’m just one of those people that always feels the cold) you instantly get this boost of energy and feel an invigorating rush throughout your body. I made sure that I had something substantial to eat afterwards and kept my water intake up all day to avoid any lightheadedeness.

We also were told that we were going to have a really good sleep that night, and that – I did!

Oh, and it’s supposed to work wonders for hangovers, too. Just saying.

*Depending on the treatment, three sessions per week are recommended consistently over an extended period of time. Always consult a healthcare professional before making any major lifestyle changes.

For more info, visit https://www.cryo.com.au/

Follow @cryo.com.au

Related tags

exercise recoverycryotherapycooling treatmenttreatmentwellbeingwellnessexercisefitnesshealth