What to Wear for Cryotherapy

Colin Cook

If you have never enjoyed whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) and you decide to give it a try, you may wonder how to approach it. In particular, you might wonder what you’re expected to wear to a cryotherapy session. Wonder no more. I’m here to give you some guidelines on what to wear for cryotherapy.

There’s a strong likelihood that whatever you’re wearing right now will do just fine. That’s because, before you enter the cryotherapy cabinet, we’re going to ask you to take it off anyway. This is one of those processes that works best when you’re naked, although not completely naked.

How Cryotherapy Works

WBC lowers your skin temperature by 30-50 degrees. Because you are in there for less than three minutes, you never have time to feel uncomfortably cold.

Cryotherapy works because of two things: 1) the cold in the cryo cabinet is instantaneous and 2) the process doesn’t take long enough for your thermoregulation processes to catch up. In effect, WBC bypasses your thermoregulation. Instead, when your body senses the extreme cold, it goes straight from thermoregulation to survival mode.

While you are in the cryo cabinet, your body redirects your blood from your skin and extremities to your core, where it can warm and protect your vital organs. As it circulates in the core, the blood is enriched with oxygen, and it takes on additional enzymes and nutrients. Then, when you leave the cryo cabinet, and your body begins rewarming, the enriched blood flows back out from your core and creates a renewal effect. It does this by replacing damaged cells and eliminating dead ones. The result is a panoply of benefits, as well as general rejuvenation, usually accompanied by slight euphoria caused by a rush of endorphins.

What to Wear for Cryotherapy

Because WBC draws the blood away from your extremities, it leaves those extremities somewhat vulnerable. And that is the origin of the WBC dress code. You must remove any jewelry and metal body piercings. We also recommend that you pat yourself dry with a towel and do not apply oils, lotions, or perfumes immediately prior to treatment. You need to be naked in order to get the maximum benefit, but you should protect your extremities as well. You must wear socks, slippers, and gloves (which we supply). If you’re a man, you should wear your underwear or a pair of shorts. If you’re a woman, underwear is optional.

We have changing booths here, and as we send you into one, we hand you footwear, gloves, and a warm robe. You strip down and put on the socks, slippers, gloves, and robe. Then we lead you to the cryo cabinet, which is set up for you to be shoulder-height and does not enclose your head. You enter the cabinet, take off the robe, and hand it to our technician. The technician starts the cryotherapy process and monitors the system for your entire three-minute session. Every 30 seconds or so, the technician will ask how you are feeling. You will never be unattended. When the session is finished, the technician hands you the robe again. You put the robe on and leave the cabinet.

Safe, Convenient, Fast

WBC is a safe way to take advantage of the body’s survival mechanisms to rejuvenate itself. We don’t recommend it for anyone with a history of stroke, high blood pressure, seizures, or infections. And you should avoid WBC if you are pregnant or have a pacemaker.

But if you are in reasonably good health and would like to increase your energy level while reducing soreness and pain, consider reducing your inflammation. Consider whole-body cryotherapy. Book a session today.

Photo: “Adorable chihuahua wearing clothes in flat” by Juan Vargas via Pexels (CC).