Cryogenic Chamber Therapy / Cold Adaptation

[Ageeva]

I usually do one every other day. And yeah, if you feel pain then you want to take it easy. In the middle of winter the water is so cold that you will get a stinging sensation if you go too long. The remedy is finding the right amount of hot water to mix in so that you still shiver, but don't get too cold.

Thanks for that @3DStudent. I should add that as soon as the stinging pain occurs I stop immediately and finish with warm water. But yeah, maybe I've gone in the deep end by using the coldest setting, I probably should have eased into it with a cold but not too cold mix. Still, I can't say I've noticed anything negative so far apart from the initial reaction to the cold water, so I'll keep going with it but only what my body can handle without getting 'heroic'.

 

[NewEngland Seeker]

I have found that switching back and forth between cold/hot at the end of a shower works even better. I first increase the water temp to as hot as I can stand it and focus the spray on the areas of pain and sensitivity. Then switch to cold and cool down the entire body then focus the spray on the areas of pain as long as possible, then switch back to hot right on the pain. The sudden change in temp has a dramatic numbing affect. I do this 3 times and end with cold. The pain is usually gone afterwards. Using this method has cleared headache, toothache from dental work, shoulder muscle strain, stiff neck and lower back pain.

 

[Tyomodachi]

Rhonda Patrick new cryo therapy video

 

[Starshine]

Q: (Carlisle) In the last session, you mentioned cold protocols as an aid to help fight off Ebola and strengthen the immune system. We were wondering what kind of temperature, duration, and frequency of cold exposure is optimal for this?A: Ten to fifteen C, and same number of minutes. Daily is best initially, but four times weekly for maintenance. The approach can be gradual.

(L) No! They didn't mean the first day. Okay, just to answer that question, how long do you have to do it every day at those low temperatures to really get the benefit?

A: 2 to 3 weeks.

Q: (L) So, for 2 to 3 weeks you have to do it every day, and then after that it's 4 times a week. That would be more or less every other day.

A: Yes.

I've finally found the will to do it!

 

[Starshine]

Sorry for this wrong manipulation above, it posted automatically when I just wanted to do a line break.

Q: (Carlisle) In the last session, you mentioned cold protocols as an aid to help fight off Ebola and strengthen the immune system. We were wondering what kind of temperature, duration, and frequency of cold exposure is optimal for this?

A: Ten to fifteen C, and same number of minutes. Daily is best initially, but four times weekly for maintenance. The approach can be gradual.

(L) No! They didn't mean the first day. Okay, just to answer that question, how long do you have to do it every day at those low temperatures to really get the benefit?

A: 2 to 3 weeks.

Q: (L) So, for 2 to 3 weeks you have to do it every day, and then after that it's 4 times a week. That would be more or less every other day.

A: Yes.

I've finally found the will to do it!

Of course, since 2014, I've been experimenting with cold showers, and occasional cold baths when going to the sea off season. But I never managed to implement the protocol as given by the Cs. This year I decided it was time, so I kept the pool outside and put lots of sea salt in it too, for an added benefit.
The water temperature was between 8 °C and 12 °C for the first two weeks, and it's been getting colder since, we are now around 3 °C to 5 °C, and it is my fourth week. I keep doing it every other day now, and I decided to follow the ratio 1 degree/ 1 minute according to the outside temperature.

Turns out it was/is a tough experience, and cold baths are way harder than cold showers to me. I'm more on the skinny spectrum and get cold easily when passive in a fresh environment.
I've been shaking like crazy inside and outside the pool for more than 2 weeks every day. Sometimes even shaking before going in, when the weather was bad. I still shake quite easily to this day and need time afterwards to warm up. I use exercise, movement, and hot showers, sometimes IR sauna too. In any case, I'll wait at least 10/15 minutes for most of the shaking to stop before trying to hop onto a hot shower.

It is slowly improving though. I feel like my skin has kind of burned over the weeks, yet it has never been that soft! My general resistance to cold is better, yet I still feel the need to be well-equipped when working outside. I can have my hands burning red, which happens frequently during my job, without it being much of a disturbance, it doesn't pinch the heart anymore, even though it is still uncomfortable.
Overall, I feel like I still have challenges to face with cold, but I have gained confidence that I can adapt even though I felt like "I'm definitely not made for this!" a lot of times. It seems to be easier for some, comparing my experience to the experience of some I've seen on YT, we're not all the same.

I see benefits regarding sleep, focus, stress management, skin and muscle tones. And most important to me, will power and resilience.

 

[onemen]

I've finally found the will to do it!

I too have been doing it since 1 week and half.

Of course, since 2014, I've been experimenting with cold showers,

Same.

I have taken cold shower since learning about the subject and never looked back ever since.
But never I actually was able to do the full duration according to the C's. More like quick cleaning for 2, 3 min until starting to shiver. I never stayed the course and doing it everyday.
How I usually did every year was restarting on summer on coldest setting and never touching the setting again and doing it everyday to adapt the body to the decreasing water temperature though fall and winter season.

This time, I didn't actually planned to do the full duration. My mindset was to just gradually staying in a bit more every day. Until I'm bored and stop it again I though. The early december month was unusually cold in Paris region. I don't have a thermometer but I assumed the water temperature was arround 10 to 15 on coldest setting in winter. So I was mentally counting and gradually adding +30sec everyday. Then I notice it took longer than the +30sec daily until body start to shiver so decided to just measure how long I could stand in it. I was surprised I reached 7 min !!!

It was really 'eye opening' because I didn't realize I could stay in there despite full body shivering/(tremoring??) like crazy and that I had to persist through it . Controling and relaxing the body through pipe breathing.

So learning that, the next day I say 'screw it' and instead of measuring how long, I just put 10min on phone's coundown and stay in there until It ring.
I never shivered that much in my life to the point of having to grab something for fear of... 'i don't know', 'sliping' or 'injuring myself'. Because at that point the full body was shaking and making loud noisy on the ground with my feets from the tremors every few minutes.
But I could control it with slow pipe exhalation. Also I discovered that I somewhat could stop it by moving the shower over my face/head when shaking hits.

Next days, I put the countdown to 12, 13 and finally 15minutes and kept doing it everyday except for 1 day last week.

Turns out it was/is a tough experience, and cold baths are way harder than cold showers to me. I'm more on the skinny spectrum and get cold easily when passive in a fresh environment.
I've been shaking like crazy inside and outside the pool for more than 2 weeks every day.

The sensations is really different, While before when I was only doing only a few minutes everyday until shivering , I would warm up real quick and feel good/comfy after.
While the full duration... it feels really terrible for 30min, I understand now what it was meant by feeling 'deep cold' inside your skin/bones. It's really 30min or more of intense full body shaking that I can't do anything. First day I hurt myself on the center area, some kind of deep cramp, when bending to 'try' to put socks on my feets, it was really painful. Now I just lie down on bed and wrap myself in a plaid, breath non-stop and endure until its gone.

I'm really happy with the benefits. I noticed right away my upper body temperature is way up. Also on the first days, I woke up one night, sweating like crazy around the neck, I was still wearing warm clothes. Since then I sleep with only my underwear under a plaid and I'm fine. And I don't even use heating.
Most importantly I'm happy that I still haven't gotten sick from the flu. I always caught it every year no matter what I try to avoid it. I also feel much stronger mentally. After all it is my main motivation for doing it : stronger immune system and stronger will.

Now I feel immense dread to go into it everyday, procrastinating and delaying the time.
While before, 2minutes shower was a 'piece of cake' if I didn't wanna, I could just trick myself into doing it by telling myself, "go for just a real quick one and you're done for the day" . It's a different story when mind know you have to stay for 10minutes in + enduring 30minutes of intense shaking.

Still 1week and a half to go until I 'only' do it every other day .
I'm kinda hoping the temperature decreases again like in early december, so that I wouldn't have to stay that long.

 

[Goemon_]

Here is my experience so far this season:

23 cold bath from October the 6th to November the 11th, followed by 30 cold bath, now with maximum duration (5 to 15°C for the same number of minutes) from November the 12th to December the 11th, and then another 11 bath from December the 13th to the 26th (no more than one day of at a time).

On the 27th I had slept little. I had promised two friends that I would join them for a one day trip to Spain (400km or so away), so I got up early and did go. I came back with a cold.

So yesterday, there was no question, I gonna have to break the cycle and have at least a second day off. I took something like 15 grams of Liposomal Vitamin C throughout the day.

This morning I was already much better but I may take another day off, or two...

Oh, at some point I realized that I'd better protect my genitals with my hands and keep my toes outside the water because I started to get chilblains or frostbites (? - FR: engelures).

 

[Miracle]

I ponied up and bought an ice bathing kit. Recently I've been struggling with sleep, energy, motivation, and mood. Work is stressful, the hours are long, rent is to darn high... just your basic life troubles. Nothing seriously out of whack, but enough to make me take the plunge into figuring out what else could help beyond my current health regimen. Goal number one: improve my psychological resilience. Life is hard and you just got to get on with it! Goal number two: raise my body temperature because I run cold. I inherited a broken circulatory system from my mom and it does not help that I got frostbite on my hands and feet as a young child. Naturally, ice bathing addresses those two issues!

Here is a photo, a link to the unit I bought, and my product review:

The OK:
- This unit requires a decent amount of maintenance. It's a small body of water so you have to replace the water often and scrub the unit about every 4-6 weeks. When the temperature drops below freezing outside, you have to disassemble the chiller unit, pipes, and pump to ensure they do not break. It's pretty easy to do all this, but it is a chore. If I had the space, I'd set this up inside near a tub.
- I'm 6'2" and in a full squat position the water up comes up to my neck. I personally do not find that to be uncomfortable or claustrophobic but the same company offers a longer tub as well if that is a concern.

The bad:
- A bottle of water stabilizer had exploded over everything upon delivery. The bottle warns that it is toxic, so I was careful to clean everything which took a while.
- I had several issues with the set up. The printed instructions that came with the unit were confusing at best. The parts were not labeled and the photo depictions unclear. There was a youtube assembly guide which was much more helpful. It really should not have been a struggle to set up as there are only a few parts, but I also stripped one of the cheap screw connections with simple hand pressure. This resulted in a partial return and new parts. For whatever reason the new parts did not have the silicone sealers in place like the original unit which lead to leaks at the connection points which confused me for a while.
- When the tub was originally filled with water, there was a fairly intense plastic odor to the water. It took a few days for that to pass.

The ugly:
- I would not recommend this product unless you have a sick obsession with spirit release therapy. "You're going to die!", "You underestimate the power of the dark side!", "Nothing is real, god is dead, and love is a conspiracy!", "Resistance is futile!"... the water is freaking cold!

The good:
- On a more serious note, The water chiller can cool and maintain the temperature of the water down to 41F.
- Despite being semi cheap and thin, it is heavy insulated. One youtube reviewer estimated that running the unit added <$10 to his monthly electric bill.
- All the parts are lightweight and easy to move.
- Including extra filters, super absorbent mat, and extra cleaning supplies it cost $1,300 and came with a 1 year warranty.
- The chiller unit motor & pump is pretty quite. As someone who is easily annoyed by industrial hums, it does not bother me.

The best:
- You can control the temperature so that initial immersion and prolonged submersion is not completely overwhelming. For me, it does not take an unreasonable amount of willpower to get into 55F water. At that temp, I can submerge my body for about 3-4 minutes before the earthquake shivers overcome my body.
- Even though I have only been using the unit for a few days, I woke up sweating last night and unfortunately could not fall back asleep. While that was annoying since I bought the unit to help me with my sleep, it signifies some significant energetic change even after short usage.