Weight Loss with Cryotherapy

If you are trying to lose weight, consider adding cryotherapy treatments from Arctic Wellness Cryo & Float to your weight loss program. Cryotherapy can help you to lose weight by increasing your metabolic rate, helping you to burn fat, accelerating cell renewal to recover quicker from workouts, and helping your body to process glucose better.

When undergoing cryotherapy your body is exposed to a dramatic drop in temperature in a very short period of time. This will cause your body to boost its metabolic rate to burn more calories to keep you warm. Your body functions on energy, and that energy comes from mitochondria, tiny organelles within your cells. A study published in Bioscience Reports (https://portlandpress.com/bioscirep/article/37/5/BSR20171087/56950/Mild-cold-induced-thermogenesis-are-BAT-and?searchresult=1) shows that when the body is exposed to cold it builds up mitochondria-rich brown adipose tissue (BAT). The BAT helps your body to generate heat, which lowers blood sugar and decreases insulin resistance. As your body is exposed to severe cold, it adjusts and increases your overall metabolic rate. Another study conducted in Canada in 2018 also determined that brown adipose tissue oxidative metabolism contributes to energy expenditure during acute cold exposure in humans, in other words it increased the body’s metabolism and burns fat.

It is estimated that 500-800 calories can be burned in just three minutes in a cryotherapy chamber at Arctic Wellness Cryo & Float. The Journal of Clinical Investigation published a 2013 study that showed daily exposure of cold temperatures (62.5°F or 17°C), for 2 hours a day over 6 weeks reduces total body fat by 2 percent. If the body burns that much fat at just 62.5°, imagine how much fat it can burn at -200° in a cryotherapy chamber! As you leave the chamber and begin to warm up, the body continues to expand energy to pump blood throughout your core to warm you up, which means that fat burning continues after you leave the chamber.

A study conducted in 2014 to determine the effects of cold on diabetes showed that by exposing participants to cold then warm temperatures every night for 4 months BAT became more responsive to the temperature changes and the body became better at processing glucose. If your body can better digest sugars, then those sugars will not turn into body fat.

If you are trying to lose weight, you are likely exercising. Regular exercise can definitely benefit your health and help you to lose weight. In fact, regular exercise enhances antioxidant defenses in the body. However, if you “over” exercise you can generate excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), which causes stress related tissue damage and impaired muscle contractility. ROS can cause inflammation and weight gain. Since we know you need to exercise to lose weight, how do you avoid this possible pitfall? Cryotherapy treatments can help. A 2014 study in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity showed that participants who had whole-body cryotherapy sessions for 3 minutes per day for 10 days reduced the effects of ROS and recovered from their exercise more quickly. This means cryotherapy lets you exercise more frequently due to faster recovery time without the negative effects of stress, inflammation and weight gain.

The Journal of Obesity published a 2018 study that found long-term cryotherapy activates a body process called cold-induced thermogenesis. That process resulted in an average overall loss of body mass of 3 percent. The loss of body mass was particularly centered around the waist. This shows that consistent and regular cryotherapy sessions can produce cumulative benefits.

Contact Arctic Wellness Cryo & Float and we will personalize a program designed to assist you in achieving your weight loss goals. Call us today to get started on your weight loss journey!