Cold: Healthy or Not?

On a hot summer day, all you want is a cocktail over ice, or – even better – to jump into a cold pool and relax with that drink in your hand. Coldness. Chilliness. We don’t like it during the winter (although, as the Norwegians say, there’s no bad weather, just bad clothes), but we crave it when the thermometer rises above 25° Celsius (77° Fahrenheit), especially when it feels like our brains are melting and we barely want to talk, let alone do any work! Cold weather does have at least one advantage over heat though: if you just dress warmer, the problem is solved. That’s the obvious advantage. But there are actually many more.

First of all, the cold is invigorating! When you feel refreshed, your body wants to warm up by moving around, which makes it way easier to stay in shape.

Second of all, what do you do when you get a bruise or a small burn? You run to the freezer and get an ice pack (or frozen vegetables – whatever’s at hand)! Cold eases pain – that’s something we learn as children.

Something else we learn when we’re young is that we have to toughen up: walk barefoot, douse ourselves in cold water, sleep in a chilly room… And that’s the third advantage: the cold builds our immune system.

Anti-ageing effect of cryotherapy

Some women put ice cubes on their faces in the morning, and women who live in northern regions develop wrinkles much later in life than their southern counterparts. Clearly, the cold prevents the skin from premature aging. That’s why it’s used in beauty treatments. That’s the fourth advantage.

We put groceries in the refrigerator so they stay fresh longer without spoiling, ship medicine and food in refrigerated vehicles when transporting them over long distances, use freezing methods to get rid of warts and skin tags, and even cryopreserve umbilical cord blood and stem cells in case they need to be used for treatment. The list could go on and on: human beings are masters at using cold to their advantage. 

And one of the most recent applications is cryotherapy, which is becoming increasingly popular. Cryotherapy is healthy and beneficial for alleviating pain, recuperating after severe physical and psychological stress, rejuvenating the body, treating certain skin conditions (like eczema and psoriasis), and much more. Cold can work kind of miracles, and you can see that for yourself after just 3 minutes of cryotherapy. 

Cryotherapy is a good helper for people leading a healthy way of life

The latest research in this area and a comparison of cryotherapy procedures with the usual methods of ice packs or ice baths point toward a single conclusion in most cases: liquid nitrogen impacts the body more effectively, is easier for clients to tolerate, and, last but not least, takes very little time.

These benefits of cryotherapy have long been valued by professional athletes and show-biz stars, who use cold to restore their bodies after physical activity and to fight aging, among other things. Some of them even have their own cryosaunas! And although cryotherapy used to be accessible only to a small group of people, today you can get cryotherapy treatments in many countries at SPAs, fitness centers, and health care facilities. In a time when a healthy lifestyle is on everyone’s mind, cryotherapy is a pretty good option to have, don’t you think? 

All in all, cold relieves pain, quickly restores the body after heavy strain, boosts the immune system, fights skin problems and aging, and even helps with losing weight! Do you doubt its benefits now?