Lifestyle

Cryotherapy – everything you need to know

Cryotherapy is fast becoming a popular trend in the wellbeing world. But does being plummeted to freezing cold temperatures have any benefits for our health?
Cryotherapy is otherwise known as cold therapy. It’s been around for a while to treat top athletes with sports injuries and speed recovery after high-performance activities.
Its benefits are now becoming more widely known beyond the world of sport. From boosting metabolism to reversing the signs of ageing, Liz explains everything you need to know about cryotherapy, and reviews LondonCryo.

How does cryotherapy work?

Deep-chilling the body via cryotherapy works by triggering our ‘fight or flight’ response. This releases a surge of endorphins that boosts the body’s natural ability to heal itself.
The sudden cold snap shifts blood swiftly to our core. This brings re-oxygenation to the outer muscles and skin tissues, as circulation floods back.

What are the benefits of cryotherapy?

Hyper-cooling helps reduce inflammation and pain, boosts metabolism (so aiding weight loss) and may even help reverse the signs of ageing.
It’s popular among the billionaire tech-gurus of Silicon Valley, many of whom have machines installed in their offices for a daily body-freezing fix. Cryotherapy treatment bars are now popping up all over American cities.

LondonCryo Review

London’s own cryotherapy centre, LondonCryo, was set up in the City by Maria Ensabella, a mother of two. She  discovered the treatment when she was recovering from a sports injury while travelling.
So impressed, she decided to leave her accountancy job and set up cryo-centres. These offer completely dry, three-minute hyper body-cooling sessions to help stressed city execs cope with work, as well as improve their athletic performance and recover from physical injuries.
Her branch in Belgravia includes signature cryo-treatments that also target inch-loss and skin rejuvenation. This works due to the drop in temperature on the skin increases oxygen, which in turn boosts collagen production.
What I like best about this intense body treatment is that it is both fast and effective. You simply change into a gown, slip on a pair of cosy gloves and fluffy boots (to protect the extremities) and step into a space-age cabin for two to three minutes.
A cheerfully chatty technician stays nearby throughout the process to offer reassurance as the temperature plummets around you – even a few short minutes in the extreme cold seems like an age. After the initial recommended two minutes inside the icy chamber I felt reinvigorated, de-stressed and renewed. The immediate endorphin rush is very cheering – and pleasantly addictive!
The good mood and higher energy levels stayed with me for several days too. I loved trialling this one-stop shop for cool body rejuvenation, faster muscle recovery from my running and boost for overall wellness. I shall definitely drop by for more.

Enjoy 20% off at LondonCryo

Liz Earle Wellbeing readers can enjoy a fabulous 20% off full-body cyrotherapy at LondonCryo and 10% all other servies (excluding IV drips and memberships). Simply quote the code LIZLOVES when booking.

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