Health & Wellness

~ by Andrea Duffy

Spring is here and now comes the buzz of getting in shape for summer. The key here is you can work on that summer bod in a way which is healthy and sustainable, or you can try one of those “lose weight quick” schemes which can cause more harm than good. My suggestion would be to start your spring season with a healthy cleanse!

Easy Juice Fasts And Other Cleanses To Detox Your Body

1. Sauna Detoxification

Aside from penetrating an inch and a half into your skin to revitalize your cells, Sunlighten sauna treatments pull toxins out of your body via sweating. Toxins are often stored in excess fat cells underneath the skin, and not surprisingly, one of the functions of this excess fat is to keep toxins which are not eliminated fast enough through natural means (such as urination and defecation) away from your body’s vital organs. As sweating releases these toxins, the excess fat which was kept in your body no longer has a reason for sticking around and your body flushes it out.

In fact, Dr. David Jernigan from the the Hansa Center includes infrared heat technology as part of his health program. With a combination of diet, exercise and positive thinking, his program has left many people feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and renewed.

2. Clean-Eating Diet

While it may be easier to grab a quick snack from a vending machine instead of spending the extra time to make a salad before work, a clean diet is important for a physical spring cleanse. While there are several foods which help detox your body, and tons of healthy recipes on our blog, eating clean is more than avoiding junk foods and pizza – it is about eating whole and natural foods while being conscious of the food’s origin to your plate. Minimally processed, refined and handled food is an awesome way to jump-start your spring cleanse!

3. Juicing

Contrary to popular belief, a juice cleanse doesn’t have to be a three-week long ordeal in order to enjoy the benefits. For the modern American’s fast and furious lifestyle, The Blender Girl, aka Tess Masters, offers a 3 day spring juice fast which is hard to beat! Trust me – it’s easier than you think. This juice cleanse leaves you feeling full and keeps those hunger pangs away so you can focus on more important things such as family and work. Some of the side effects include having more energy, clearer thinking, feeling better and losing extra pounds.

4. BalanceME Detoxification Supplements

As you may know, Dr. Hyman talks extensively on how your stomach health is linked with the overall health of your body. BalanceMe is a probiotic organic powder which contains fermented wild-strain lactobacillus. Not only does it promote gut health, but it helps your body can easily absorb phyto-nutrients, enzymes, amino acids and more by balancing your digestive system and supporting your body’s natural digestive and detoxification pathways. Click hereto get yours today!

By taking small daily steps toward your spring cleanse, you can enjoy maximal health and that summer body before spring is over! My only request is to do so safely and in a way which is sustainable and healthy. If you do have any health concerns, be sure to ask your doctor before starting a detoxification regime.

Happy spring cleansing!

In today’s uber busy, 24/7 world, you might find yourself feeling less than 100% more often than you’d like.  Many of our clients tell us of their busy travel schedules that include lots of time spent on airplanes, which are full of toxic chemicals, bad air, and questionable food. Diesel increases the toxic burden on the body too. If you’ve ever felt run-down, sluggish or just plain gross, perhaps after a whirlwind trip or a gluttonous holiday, you know how it is.

Try our infrared sauna to maintain mental performance and to feel and look your best, while helping your body get rid of toxins through your skin. Our sauna has extremely low electromagnetic frequency (“EMF”) emissions, chromatherapy lighting, Bluetooth so you can listen to your music through the sauna’s state-of-the-art speakers, and is in a private room for maximum elations.

Infrared Sauna Benefits: Why Sauna?

Infrared saunas can quickly and effectively help you get back to feeling amazing again.  Sauna therapy has been around for centuries as a way to detoxify your body, but did you know that full spectrum infrared saunas can go even further by heating up your body’s core to a cellular level, where most toxins are stored?

Infrared’s deep penetrating heat is what most effectively stimulates metabolic activity, which in turn triggers the release of stored toxins through sweat, as well as through the liver and kidneys.

Think about it: this is why your body goes into fever conditions when you’re sick— a hotter body increases metabolic activity, kills unwanted intruders, and stimulates the release of toxins.  Viruses and sometimes even tumor cells can be destroyed in the face of heat.

Highly emissive far infrared saunas help recreate your body’s fever-like response condition by raising your core body temperature, to make you feel better inside and out.

Upgrade Your Core With Full Spectrum Infrared Sauna

Sweating is a critical human detox function, yet most people don’t sweat regularly or enough.  Sweating helps the body make use of its ability to eliminate toxins through the skin.  The body is very effective at eliminating toxins this way, but it only works if we make the body sweat.

Worse, many of us sit at desks all day, and in air-conditioned indoor environments.  In these conditions, the skin stores the toxins with little opportunity to eliminate them.

To combat these effects, infrared sauna systems help us to purify our bodies from the inside out.

Benefits of the infrared spectrum on the body include:

• detoxification
• lowered blood pressure
• relaxation
• improved circulation
• weight loss
• pain relief
• cell health/immunity
• wound healing
• anti-aging
• oxygenation of tissues

What Is An Infrared Sauna, And When Should You Use One?

The key to making sauna use an effective detoxification method for you is daily use.  Using it once and awhile will help, but it is daily use that will result in these long-term benefits.

First, it helps to understand what the difference is between traditional saunas, far infrared saunas and full spectrum infrared saunas:

• Traditional hot rock and steam saunas operate at extremely high temperatures in excess of 200 degrees Fahrenheit.  This kind of heat is uncomfortable for many people, and it is not necessarily effective as it simply heats the air around you.
• Infrared light, experienced as heat, is the invisible part of the sun’s spectrum and is necessary for all living things. Far infrared has the ability to penetrate human tissue providing a deep, detoxifying sweat.  Far infrared saunas are the most common on the market.
• Full spectrum saunas emit three infrared wavelengths independently – near, mid and far. Atoptimal frequencies, the different wavelengths can precisely target specific benefits. Near infrared light shouldn’t be confused with ordinary red light. Therapeutic near infrared light is invisible to the naked eye and has a consistent output without extreme heat or light.

Next, keep in mind that not all infrared saunas are exactly the same.

Key Guidelines to Upgrade Your Sauna Experience

Here are a few guidelines for safe and effective sauna use:

• Pre sauna session, hydrate with at least 8 ounces of water to prepare your body for an increase in core body temperature. It is best to maintain peak hydration throughout the day by drinking half of your body weight in ounces of water.
• To get your body accustomed to infrared therapy, start with 10-15 minute sessions at 100°F every other day. The optimal sauna experience occurs between 100° and 130°
• Gradually increase session length towards 40 minute daily sessions at the optimal temperature range
• Don’t be surprised if you don’t sweat during the first few sessions. Sweating will increase with regular use, removing toxins and leaving you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
• Listen to your body and be aware of excessive detoxifying. If you begin to feel flu-like symptoms, discontinue use and consult your physician.
• Post sauna session, drink at least 24 ounces of water or electrolytes to rehydrate. Dry off with a clean cotton towel, then and let your body cool naturally.
• You can follow up later with a refreshing shower.

Ready to Sweat?

Infrared saunas are more effective at stimulating detoxification and gentler on the body than traditional hot rock saunas, steam rooms, and hot tubs. Deep, cellular sweating is key to detoxifying and energizing your body! And did I mention…it’s a great way to relax, too?

Book your session today or call us to find out more!

Many of our clients at Alpha Cryo have never heard about Normatec Recovery; but when they spot the sleeves in the office, they are eager to find out. Like all of our services, Normatec works to maximize recovery. The unique massage sleeves can be used on the arms, legs, or hips. The massage operates in a pulse cycle of compression followed by release. This increases blood flow and helps alleviate lactic acid build up in the muscles. This, in turn, also helps reduce soreness and speed recovery.

The client can choose to have either a 30 minute or 60 minute session. For each, the compression massage is the same. The client will either slide on the arms, legs or hips sleeves and sit back and relax until the massage is over. When the session begins, the sleeves will inflate so that they can mold to fit the client’s body. The client will then begin to feel compression at the farthest parts of the limbs she is focusing on. For the arm sleeves, this will mean the hands are compressed, for the leg sleeves it is the feet and for the hip sleeves it is the upper thigh. The compression will then release and another section will be compressed closer to the top of the limb. This pattern will be repeated all the way up the limb and then start over again at the feet, hands or upper thigh. It feels amazing and it really works!

Created by a physician bioengineer and backed by years of scientific research, Normatec is one of the most popular recovery tools in the athletic world. It is no surprise, then, that when our clients try it, they keep coming back for more! Used by endurance athletes, crossfitters and collegiate and pro teams, Normatec Recovery is a great way to get rid of soreness and maximize your next workout.

SEQUENTIAL PULSE TECHNOLOGY IS BASED ON NORMAL PHYSIOLOGY, AND IT SYNERGISTICALLY COMBINES THREE DISTINCTIVE MASSAGE TECHNIQUES TO SPEED THE BODY’S NORMAL RECOVERY PROCESS.

NormaTec’s founder, a physician bioengineer (MD, PhD), recognized the powerful potential of external dynamic compression and its crucial role in healing and recovery. The concept of using external compression to aid the body with its normal circulatory processes has been around since the 1960s; however, the science of compression had no major technological advances during the first 40 years of its use. After trying every available compression pump on the market with only unimpressive clinical results, NormaTec’s founder realized that the key to advancing the technology of external compression is improving the massage pattern. Thus NormaTec developed and patented Sequential Pulse Technology, and the NormaTec Recovery System was born.

• Pulsing: Instead of using static compression (squeezing) to transport fluid out of the limbs, Sequential Pulse Technology uses dynamic compression (pulsing). Our patented pulsing action more effectively mimics the muscle pump of the legs and arms, greatly enhancing the movement of fluid and metabolites out of the limbs after an intense workout.
• Gradients: Veins and lymphatic vessels have one-way valves that prevent backflow of fluid. Similarly, Sequential Pulse Technology utilizes gradient hold pressures to keep your body’s fluids from being forced down toward your feet by the pulsing action in proximal zones. Because of this enhancement, Sequential Pulse Technology can deliver maximum pressure throughout the entire limb and the effectiveness of the pulsing action is not diminished near the top of the limb.
• Distal release: Because extended static pressure can be detrimental to the body’s normal circulatory flow, Sequential Pulse Technology releases the
  hold pressures once they are no longer needed to prevent backflow. By releasing the hold pressure in each zone as soon as possible, each portion of the limb gains maximal rest time without a significant pause between compression cycles.

While a healthy athlete’s body eventually will recover from an intense workout, using the Sequential Pulse Technology found only in a NormaTec Recovery System for just 20 minutes can speed recovery.

Alpha Cryo

We’re bringing you some technology to aid in your recovery. The NormaTec system utilizes compression technology to help you recover faster between workouts.

How it works

There is a lot of science behind the development of this system that is best explained from the NormaTec developers themselves. In its most simplistic explanation, the NormaTec recovery system uses a “compress and release” pattern up and down your legs to speed recovery after intense workouts. Pulsing, Gradients, and Distal Release all play a factor in this technology that is explained below (from the NormaTec website)

• 1) Pulsing: Instead of using static compression (squeezing) to transport fluid out of the limbs, Sequential Pulse Technology uses dynamic compression (pulsing). Our patented pulsing action more effectively mimics the muscle pump of the legs and arms, greatly enhancing the movement of fluid and metabolites out of the limbs after an intense workout.
• 2) Gradients: Veins and lymphatic vessels have one-way valves that prevent backflow of fluid. Similarly, Sequential Pulse Technology utilizes gradient hold pressures to keep your body’s fluids from being forced down toward your feet by the pulsing action in proximal zones.
• 3) Distal release: Because extended static pressure can be detrimental to the body’s normal circulatory flow, Sequential Pulse Technology releases the hold pressures once they are no longer needed. By releasing the hold pressure in each zone as soon as possible, each portion of the limb gains maximal rest time without a significant pause between compression cycles.

What this means for you

Try out the NormaTec boots for a complimentary 15 minutes to see how it feels. We’ll be offering 30 minute sessions for all members with purchase of a NormaTec punchcard.

While healthy bodies will eventually recovery from an intense workout, this system can speed recovery with a 20-minute session. Take control of your recovery with NormaTec.

Chasing Berlin: I’m chasing my marathon PR in the Berlin Marathon this weekend and documenting my training in this blog. As a busy writer and editor in New York City, it’s certainly not easy, but it’s been a fun and rewarding journey so far! I’m covering everything from training to nutrition to recovery and even mindset. Stay tuned for more to come soon.

‘Work hard, rest harder,’ it should be said when it comes to marathon training. When you’re balancing your training schedule with your real life commitments – a demanding job, a social life, volunteering, the list goes on – it’s easy to get just as mentally burnt out as you are physically. And burn out is not on the plan. You want to arrive at the starting line feeling fresh – that’s the idea behind “tapering” in the 2-3 weeks before race day. You let your body recover just enough so that you can run at your max potential when you finally arrive at that starting line. But you shouldn’t wait until the taper to start thinking about recovery. It needs to be built into your plan just as you build in runs and strength sessions and plan your meals and snacks ahead.

When I was training for my first marathon at 24-years-old, I remember one 6-hour period very clearly: I rolled into my apartment building in Hell’s Kitchen – dressed in 4-inch heels, Rag & Bone jeans, and a slinky tank top under a leather jacket, well past midnight, saying goodnight to the doorman on shift. A mere five to six hours later, the same doorman was still on the same shift as I emerged from the elevator dressed in sneakers, leggings, and a performance top – ready (well as ready as I possibly could have been) to tackle a 6-mile training run. I actually ended up tripping in a pot hole while crossing the West Side Highway at 34th street – and twisting my ankle.

The neurotic type-A personality in me still wouldn’t allow myself to call it a day. I ran all six of those miles and then called my physical therapist later that day. I saw him twice a week for the remaining few weeks of training and yes, he worked on my ankle but more importantly he shifted my mindset so that I now saw how sleeping in that one particular morning post-spontaneous mid-week night out would actually have been way better for me. (What wouldn’t be good: Making a habit of this sort of shenanigans!) Life happens and you do make a lot of sacrifices when you’re training – we should give ourselves a break from time to time and recognize that missing a single (or even two or three) 6-mile runs is not going to make or break your chances at nailing that PR.

In fact, building rest days into your regimen is seriously important. On some rest days, you might feel like laying on the couch watching Netflix and ordering in food. Good for you. Listen to your body. I sometimes think I’m going to do that and look so forward to it until the day arrives and I’m antsy and want to get out and move. That’s where “active recovery” days come in. I’ll call a friend and go for a long walk in my Greenwich Village neighborhood. I’ll hit up yoga (one of my most favorite things – and so great for marathon runners since it helps increase flexibility and mobility) or if I really feel like I need to get some running in, I can head to Finish Line Physical Therapy where they have an Alter-G treadmill – basically it’s a treadmill with a giant air bubble in which you stand. It reduces the amount of body weight you’re using every time you strike, helping you to get more miles in sans all the pounding.

Give your body some R&R

The bottom line: You’re beating your body pretty hard and asking a lot of it – pay it back with some R&R. One cool thing that I’ve been experimenting with is the NormaTec Pulse Leg Recovery System. They’re these giant ski pants/footie pajamas (my words, not theirs) that you slip your legs into and zip up. Then, they fill up with air, and “pulse” an area of your legs. It actually feels oddly good – it starts to feel almost too intense – and then, ah! relief – as they deflate before filling up again and “pulsing” another area.

“The NormaTec compression sleeves are one of the best tools for helping with circulation and reducing inflammation to speed up recovery,” says Sara Hunninghake, Community Manager & Licensed Massage Therapist at Finish Line.

But, it’s different from the compression pants you wear every time you get on a plane: “The NormaTecs use a special massage pattern to provide dynamic compression to your legs.” Even spending as little as 20 minutes in them could help me recover faster – and feel more rested sooner – after a long run, Hunninghake told me. She recommended I come in to use the sleeves for an hour every Monday morning after my Sunday long run. I honestly feel like they’ve made a difference – and whether it’s “placebo effect” or not, I’m on board. Anything I can do to up my chances at being fresher and more ready to run my absolute best, I’ll try it.

Speaking of recovery, there are also more extreme means of recovering should you be willing to test them out: Cryotherapy, for instance, is a treatment where you get dunked in a freezing “tank” for three minutes in an effort to, similar to the sleeves, recover faster. You’ve probably heard of several pro athletes using cupping therapy to cure sore muscles and speed up recovery, too. There are endless options out there that, although not backed by solid science yet, may be worth trying. I ran all this past the experts at EXOS and they told me it’s all about finding what works for me – “If trying practices such as Cryotherapy works for you then make sure you go to an accredited facility,” said EXOS’ Kerry Greer.

Go for a massage

Still, if you prefer to stick to more conventional recovery methods, you can book a massage – a treatment that has tons of research behind it. “When it comes to training for a distance event, it’s important that runners think about soft tissue work as part of the training plan,” says Hunninghake. “Massage that emphasizes functional soft tissue therapy helps to release the soft tissue restrictions that often cause pain and inhibit movement – and can promote better blood flow to help reverse the repetitive movements and daily stresses of training,” she notes.

I got a massage in the beginning of my training from Hunninghake as an “assessment” (she told me my left side was more tense than my right, particularly my left calf – helpful info!) and plan to see her once more the day before I fly to Berlin as a pre-marathon boost (and to calm nerves and relieve tension!). In an ideal world, she says, you should go once a month during training to help reduce pain and muscle soreness that often accompanies intense weeks of training.

Another way to get the effect of a massage (that “so tissue work”) is foam rolling. I foam roll my glutes, IT bands, and hamstrings after every run religiously. Find out more about why you need to foam roll in our blog. And of course, plain old stretching, like the Stride Stretch is a good move, too – both before and after your runs.

Take a nap

Now, stop reading this and go the heck to the sleep already! Logging enough Z’s is arguably the most important piece of the recovery puzzle. “Sleep has different stages and different things are going on in your body during those stages,” explains EXOS’ Stefan Underwood. “During deep sleep is when we restore our body and our largest release of Growth Hormone is experienced – It is during this deep sleep that the mechanical stress induced during training is repaired,” he explains. If you find it hard to prioritize sleep each and every night, know that there are also science-backed bennies to taking a nap.
So, yeah, go ahead and book that massage and take a nap marathoners!

By Caitlin Carlson

Recovery after an intense physical activity is often accompanied by pain, swelling and decreased ability to move. The symptoms are a part of the injury-response of the body, called inflammation. Although it is considered to be of evolutionary importance, prolonged inflammation can cause unwanted problems, especially when on a strict training schedule. Decreasing it can therefore aid recovery. Only a thorough understanding of the underlying process can reveal a path towards decreasing the negative inflammatory effects thus allowing for an educated decision on how to alleviate them.

THE INFLAMMATION PROCESS

Inflammation is an inherent tissue response and plays a major role the body’s defense against harmful microscopic organisms. Higher organisms, like humans, have additionally evolved mechanism that not only detect and fight the pathogens in the tissue, but also react to damaged host cells.

A STEP-BY-STEP RECOVERY

In order to be efficient, inflammation happens in sequential steps that allow the organism to address the scope of the damage and prepare the adequate response. Each step of the inflammatory process is designed to prepare the organism for a timely recovery.

Can u describe the step by step more clearly in the schema (put numbers 1, 2 ,3 for the diferent steps) make schema full page so one can read.
Can you insert content on the endothelial cells swelling and occlusion of the capillary beds

• Endothelial cells swelling
• Occlusion of the capillary beds

If the below is the step by step then number them in steps

INJURY

The main function of the inflammatory process is to detect the damaged tissue and start the procedures to repair them before more damage is caused. When the external stimulus results in cell damage, a particular chain of reaction is initiated in order to secure the tissue.

BIOCHEMICAL RESPONSE

When the injury occurs and the tissue cells get damaged, special chemicals called the inflammatory mediators are released in the blood stream. They cause the expansion of blood vessels which allow the white blood cells, the erythrocytes, to enter the injured area. Because the blood level in the tissue is increased, the damaged area becomes red and hot.
Look at attached , what about endothelial? I thought you d get occlusion from the swelling of the endothelial cells resulting in occlusion of bllod flow to the locally inflamed capillary beds .with that reduction of blood flow you could slow the healing process. Kinins and histamine that are released when the injury occurs cause the capillaries to become permeable, allowing the protein rich fluid to leak in the tissue. Due to the formation of the temporary Fibrin Barrier, which protect the healthy surrounding tissue, the fluid stay in the damaged area causing swelling.

PHYSICAL ACTIVATION

Injured muscle and twisted joint also hurt, because the released hormones can irritate the nerves and enhance pain signals sent to brain. These physical reactions are meant to stop the organism to continue the damaging activity thus preventing the further development of trauma.

HEALING

Oxygenated and nutrient reach blood fasten the metabolic rate of tissue cells thus initiating the healing process. To be as efficient and complete as possible, the neutrophils and macrophages, specialized types of white blood cells, remove damaged tissue cells from the injured area. This process may cause the formation of pus in the tissue but it is essential for clearing the area of debris.

INFLAMMATION AND DISEASES

Would be good to have a paragraph here about how every disease at the root is based on inflammation

How cryo helps reducing inflammation (by promoting blood flow to inflamed areas and removing wate and delivering newly filtered, oxygenated, and nutrient filled blood to the body including inflamed areas.

Then describe why cryo helps reducing inflammation (by promotiin blood flow to inflamed areas and removing waste and delivering newly filtered , oxygenated , and nutrient filled blood to the body including inflamed areas
The Dangers of Inflammation
While the inflammation is the body’s natural response it is not always beneficial for the organism. In particular cases the body can start fighting against its own healthy cells. Such a harmful inflammatory response can lead to development of autoimmune pathological disorders including:

• Rheumatoid arthritis – which produces inflammatory joint symptoms
• Psoriasis – an autoimmune skin disease
• Crohn’s disease – a type of inflammatory bowel disease

The causes of chronic inflammation disorders are many and various in type. A preparation of the body and vitalization of the immune system is recommended in order to avoid them. Whole-body cryotherapy offers itself as a beneficial measure to strengthen the body, making it resistance for such harmful developments. By providing an outside support for the body’s naturalresponse it can help to manage negative and promote positive inflammatory effects.

THE WORD “CRYOTHERAPY” ORIGINATES FROM THE GREEK WORDS: “CRYO”-COLD AND “THERAPIA”-CURE. IT IS A CURATIVE HEALTH TREATMENT INVOLVING EXTREMELY LOW TEMPERATURES (BELOW -130C/-266F).

Whole Body Cryotherapy was developed by Dr. Yamaguchi in 1978. He treated patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis with short periods of exposure to below freezing temperatures. These procedures had favorable results for pain management. Dr. Yamaguchi found he could significantly reduce the soreness and pain his patients felt during manipulation of their joints. The rapid decrease in temperature of the outer layer of the skin led to the immediate release of endorphins and therefore lessened their discomfort.

As a result of thorough and sustained research, Dr. Yamaguchi and his associates came to the conclusion that Cryotherapy was not just beneficial for short-term joint pain alleviation, but it affects the body long-term on three different levels:

• The Biochemical Level – the circulatory system
• The Energy Level – the energy meridians
• The Information – the nervous system

The Biochemical level

When inside the cryo-chamber, where ambient temperature is usually around -140C/270F, the human body is rapidly exposed to extremely low temperatures and the skin surface temperature is quickly cooled to approximately -1C/32F for a short period of time (2-3 minutes). When the skin temperature reaches freezing for a few moments, cold sensors in the skin send a very strong signal to the brain that the organism’s life might be in danger. In an innate response, the brain gives orders to all peripheral parts of the body to constrict blood vessels, muscles, and tissue in order to send the blood to the core of the body to protect the vital organs. As the blood circulates in the “internal cycle”, it’s being enriched with oxygen, enzymes and nutrients. Upon completing the treatment, when clients step out of the cryo-chamber, the enriched blood actively circulates throughout the body. It supports and nourishes all of the internal organs and all crucial life processes are accelerated. If the performance of any of the organs was low or impaired, these deficiencies are being remedied under the strong, enriched blood flow effect. Several treatments will even lead to an increase in hemoglobin count.

Enriched blood creates favorable conditions for internal organ regeneration, for expelling of toxins from subcutaneous layers, for all the cell renewal process, replacement of damaged cells and elimination of dead cells from peripheral tissues – i.e. rejuvenation of the body at the cellular level.

The Energy Level

Being an acupuncturist and a practitioner of Traditional Chinese medicine, I have been able to apply my knowledge of how acupuncture and Cryotherapy work together. My experience with these two holistic health approaches gave me the opportunity to make a strong connection between the two modalities.

As part of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture study theory, the energy level of the human body is made up of a network of energy meridians, similar to the circulatory system on the Biochemical Level. There are 12 main meridians and many lateral meridians within the human body, together referred to as the energy network of the human body. When the energy flow in any of the meridians is blocked, some organs do not receive enough energy to function properly.
How does WCT increase this energy flow to the body? We know from any physics curriculum that if we take a sufficiently long wire, and warm one end of it while cooling the other, the temperature difference leads to an electric current in the wire. The same thing happens to the human energetic system during WCT treatment. When the temperature of the skin surface drops to 32*F, while the body core temperature is 98.6*F, the 68.6*F difference is sufficient to cause a strong flow of energy in the meridians, thereby restoring energy flow where disruptions may have been present. In this case, WCT is used as a preventive and corrective method, as it stimulates the energy flow in the human body, and allows people to stay healthy. Aging is the immediate result of insufficient supply inside the body. Restoration of the energy flow helps to restore the body physically, and can prevent its premature aging.

To summarize WCT’s effect on the first two levels of the body, we can say this: WCT helps enrich the blood and supply it to all internal organs and peripheral parts of the body by making sure that the organs have all the necessary energy to make full use of these materials – without energy, no beneficial processes can occur.

The Informational Level

The Information Level consists of the intricate network of the body’s nervous system, through which electric signals are sent to and from all parts of the body. If cell division does not follow the pattern determined in the information level of the body, the cell begins to mutate. An autoimmune system disease is one situation in which the body cannot distinguish its own tissues and substances from foreign elements and attacks itself, thinking it’s defending itself against intruders. A common example of an autoimmune disease is psoriasis.

In the Informational Level, the brain sends signals to all parts of the body through the nervous system in order to determine the extent to which each part of the body is compromised. When the brain, in response to perceived critical conditions during a WCT procedure, surveys all body parts and analyzes the returned signals, it creates a complete up-to-date picture of the body’s state of health – which the brain requires to properly allocate resources to ensure the vitality of the body.

Why Cryotherapy Is More Effective Than An Ice Bath

Ice baths have been regularly used in professional sports for rehabilitation of athletes with injuries. But the Ice Bath affects the body in a completely different way than Cryotherapy. Cryotherapy has been shown to be much more beneficial and with no negative side effects. What are the different effects of the Ice Bath and Cryo-chamber? First, during the first 15-20 minutes of the ice bath, tissue freezes quite deep and frozen muscles temporarily lose capacity, as muscle tissue needs time to return to normal. In contrast, Cryotherapy does not actually freeze muscle tissue, it only tricks the brain by creating a powerful illusion of that. A big difference between the two treatments lies in the fact that, when gradually cooled in an ice bath, the body’s response is to try to warm as much blood as possible in its core in order to send it to peripheral parts to maintain the warm skin surface. This process continues, trying to make the body capable of generating sufficient heat to maintain warmth in the peripheral body parts. But when the heat is no longer enough, the muscles start to congeal and freeze, beginning at the skin surface and continuing inward to the body’s center. For this reason, longer stays in an ice bath can cause hypothermia and can lead to death, as it is very difficult to stop this process once it has begun.

But in the Cryo-chamber, the skin surface reaches temperature of -1C/32F in just 30-40 seconds while the surrounding temperature is up to -150C (this is impossible in an ice bath where the temperature cannot drop lower than -5C/41F). This process triggers a protective response of the brain, tricking it to interpret this process as a critical situation for the internal organs. As a result, the brain prioritizes protection of the internal organs, as there is not enough time to save the peripheral extremities. This results in constriction of blood vessels and capillaries to keep the body’s core temperature from dropping – triggering the process described above – sending the blood to internal organs and enrichment of blood. Lastly, while in the ice bath, oxygen supply to the skin’s surface is interrupted, and it causes skin injury if the procedure is too often repeated.

What to expect:

You arrived at a simple office where the receptionist has us fill out a waiver form. You then basically stripped down naked, grabbed a white robe, gloves, socks and boots, put them on and headed to a room with what looks like a stand-up silver shower stall, which is a pretty small space. You step into this contraption they call the cryo-sauna where nitrogen is pumped into the chamber letting out freezing cold air (−110 °C) for a period of three minutes. It is really, really cold, but not like taking a dip in cold water. With cryotherapy you think the sensory receptors on my skin were impacted so quickly, your brain thinks you were freezing. It was as if the treatment was so cold it overrode the sensation of feeling chilled.

Because the session is over in 3 minutes, by the time you really start feeling icy, you get out of the chamber. Once you are out your body temperature almost immediately started to shift back to normal. You will noticed areas of your body where you have a little body fat (like the back of my arms, hips, thighs, and buttocks) felt cold to the touch longer than your belly, forearms, and other parts where your body is more lean.

The theory and science behind the method

After doing it your will want look for some research on the topic and found that it was originally used for the treatment of inflammatory rheumatic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylarthritis and to alleviate inflammation and pain (Fricke 1989, Wichmann & Fricke 1997). It has more recently been used in sports medicine to treat injuries and syndromes of overuse (Zimmer & Zagrobelny, unpublished data, 2000). The performance-enhancing component of whole-body cryotherapy is also being increasingly used for sports. Once you are in the chamber your cardiovascular system changes, thus there are claims of lasting muscular effects (an increase in muscular perfusion, metabolism, and activation of motor units) and it’s why people believe it helps athletic performance (Papenfus 2006). Despite the possible health benefits of WBC, little scientific information is available in the literature I found overall. But it is an intriguing concept.

Although the gentleman at the spa said the main effect is to reduce joint pain and it was originally designed to help with arthritis, the research you will read says that for severe arthritis, you would have to do the treatment every 2-3 hours for multiple days to really create the effects of local cryotherapy. Think of it as cold-induced analgesia, a reduction in inflammation and a decrease of the temperature of the joint that could diminish the activity of collagenases, which are cartilage destroying enzymes (Harris & McCroskery 1974). Think of it like tricking your body into a self-preservation state like the body is about to go into hypothermia. When hypothermia occurs, a lot of blood is sent to your core region to protect your organs. Blood is then enriched with oxygen, nutrients, and enzymes and after you leaves the chamber super-rich nutrient blood returns to your extremities—flushing out toxins and improving circulation. The body loses heat by convection, radiation, conduction and evaporation, but I am not sure which of these WBC uses—perhaps all 5. You can imagine this is similar to how jumping into a cold plunge or ice water would stimulate the hypothalamus, causing a thermo-regulatory adjustment in the body. The receptors on the skin change their firing rate if temperature changes dramatically and very fast. So if skin temperature falls, the discharge rate of the skin receptors would increase quickly. That would cause cutaneous vasoconstriction.

The vasoconstrictor response reduces blood flow to the skin and hence reduces internal core-to-skin convective heat transfer and heat loss. Thus, the vasoconstrictor response to cold exposure protects the core temperature when skin and muscle temperatures are decreasing (Castellani et al. 2006).

So what’s my take?

You think to gain any real lasting affects you would have to go daily or multiple times a day. The cost of a treatment is $99 in for 3 Session. You can see why many of the avid users of this therapy are professional athletes. You will found out players from the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs and Pittsburgh Steelers use the treatment, as have the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and world-class sprinter Tyson Gay. You can bet the team just buys the machine and the players use it before and after training workouts.

You think if you had severe arthritis, joint pain, or nerve damage, maybe even frozen shoulder or something of that nature this type of therapy is a non-invasive possibility to reduce pain and increase the healing process. If insurance would pick up some of the cost, it could be a much better alternative than injections, surgery, or medication.

Your after-experience of the therapy will be a sense of coldness under my skin in the superficial fascia hours after the treatment so for sure something is affected by the therapy. Your cheeks feel more lifted, and you will notice the fatty regions of my body were cold to the touch longer than other parts of me.
Over all it is something that would be a great alternative to pain relief and help increase your energy not to mention is helps improve your sleep. You will sleep like a rock once you do cryotherapy which also an added bonus along with losing 600-800 calories.