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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOne notable 2015 German study reported that endurance athletes improved their performance<\/a> when they underwent cryotherapy between two running session spaced one hour apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This has been attributed to re-circulation theory. When our bodies are exposed to the cold, blood vessels narrow (vasoconstriction), re-directing blood away from the periphery towards the core in order to protect key organs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of this process, blood is enriched with nutrients and oxygen, which then flows back to tissues once blood vessels widen again (vasodilation). The overall effect is to re-energise the recipient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vasoconstriction also helps to minimise injuries because less blood flowing through capillaries has a similar effect on fluid leaking from damaged vessels around the injury site. Swelling and inflammation are reduced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Boosts the immune system<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cold also stimulates the body\u2019s sympathetic nervous system into action \u2013 our flight or fight response to stressful situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we previously explained in our article on ice bathing, this physiological shock provides a form of training for the immune system. Regular exposure to small shocks strengthens it, thereby enabling it to cope far better when it is exposed to bigger and more dangerous threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Improves sleep<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once our bodies sense that a danger has passed, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated. This slows everything down, including our breathing, enabling us to relax and eventually to sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cryotherapy helps to ease this process along. In 2021, a study led by the China Institute of Sports Science in Beijing, found that it not only improved sleep quality<\/a> among the 12 long-distance runners studied, but had a greater effect than cold water immersion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Reduces chronic pain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We all know that cold can dull pain. This is because it slows down electrical impulses passing through our nervous system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the late 1970\u2019s a Japanese doctor called Toshiro Yamauchi used this theory to pioneer whole body cryotherapy to reduce pain and swelling in patients with the inflammatory joint disease, rheumatoid arthritis. Since then, it has become especially popular in Scandinavian and Northern European countries to treat a long list of ailments causing chronic pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, a Polish study highlighted that it could be more effective<\/a> than conventional physiotherapy in treating inflammatory diseases of the joints like rheumatoid arthritis. Examination of 83 patients noted a decrease in their intensity of morning stiffness and pain, plus a reduction of the inflammatory marker c-reactive protein, which is produced in the liver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Increases flexibility<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A number of studies including one published in 2021 by the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, highlight that cryotherapy improves flexibility. A study of 40 recreational sports players showed a significant increase<\/a> in calf and hamstring flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is because while vasoconstriction reduces blood flow to the surface of large muscle groups, vasodilation increases blood flow at a deeper level. This, in combination with slower nerve conduction velocity, allows the muscle to relax and be stretched more fully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We examine the benefits of whole body cryotherapy, exposure to extreme cold for therapeutic effect. At some point in our lives, most of us will have experienced cryotherapy \u2013 healing through the medical use of extremely low temperatures. It might have been at a doctor\u2019s surgery when we got a wart frozen off, or at … <\/p>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n