I Tried Cryotherapy- Here’s How It Felt

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In the name of wellness, what won’t we do?
You may find floating in a sensory deprivation tank full of 800 pounds of Epsom salt is enough to release anxiety and muscle tension; or, puncturing your body with 20 Acupuncture needles for an ancient Chinese solution to improve blood flow and energetic circulation. Wellness can look like a skincare treatment, hot cups suctioning out impurities, but this go-round, self-care looked like an invigorating submersion into a negative 170 degree cryotherapy chamber to improve overall health.
According to WebMD, Cryotherapy, also known as cold therapy, involves exposing your body to sub zero temperatures as cold as negative 200 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Colder than an ice bath, which sits at about 50 degrees for 15 minutes, whole body cryotherapy (WBC) lasts only two to four minutes in a more extreme temperature. During the treatment, you are next to nude, with just underclothes and protective tools, like gloves, socks or earmuffs.
As for the benefits? Cold therapy is used to reset your body through an invigoration treatment, including relief from aches and pains, muscle recovery, improved circulation, and better sleep. Others claim cryotherapy can burn up to 800 calories in under three minutes due to increased metabolism and thermogenesis, although not enough evidence has proven the claim. So naturally, I gave it a try.
I booked an appointment at the Reset Therabody Spa in New York to push my body to the extremes, in the name of wellness. Unlike other cryo chambers which stop at the shoulder, Therabody has a total-body chamber which looks like a freezer, rather than a tank. I was anxious beforehand, fearing the unknown of just how cold cryotherapy is. Nevertheless, I pulled on the lightweight robe, slid on the protective gloves, socks, slippers, hat, and face mask, then stepped into what looked like a subzero meat locker.
The temperature was negative 170 degrees for three minutes. At first, I felt like I was in a New York blizzard as snow-like wind blew from the inner walls, which is when I quickly realized why the spa therapist gave me a mask to put on — I couldn’t breathe. Within the first minute, I learned you can only breathe by taking deep, slow breaths, even though my body didn’t feel as cold as the temperature was. I soon realized subzero is a bearable condition, at least for a few minutes, which counted down quicker than expected.
After the session ended, I stepped out of the cryo chamber. The therapist checked my body temperature before I entered: 90 degrees, which dropped to 62 degrees after the cryotherapy. I felt invigorated after, excited I tried a new wellness treatment despite my initial anxiety, which was overcome with intrigue.
I felt relaxed, which is how the therapist said I looked while in the chamber, and hydrated from the cooling breaths I took moments before. All in all, do not be afraid to take the next step into personal health and wellness– even if it’s into a below freezing cryo chamber.