Mental health conditions, that are linked to health problems resulting from inflammation, benefit from cryotherapy, assisting in reduced symptoms.
Treating patients with anxiety disorders
A study showed that cryotherapy might play a role in treating patients with anxiety disorders. The positive effect was already visible after the first week of treatment and from there on improvements continued. The decrease of anxiety – and depressive symptoms were much higher in the group of patients who were exposed to extremely low-temperature sessions. Furthermore, the study found that of more than 50 patients in treatment for depression, those exposed to cryotherapy daily for ten days, experienced improvements in motivation, mood and sleep quality compared to those exposed to non-cryo temperatures.
Positive effect
A different study concluded that Whole body cryo has a significant effect in boosting the mood and well-being of the patients, which leads to an improvement in their quality of life. The worse the mental state of the patients is before the therapy, the stronger the effect. This study also found that the strongest effects of cryotherapy were found in women, patients with spinal pains and in patients with severe depressive symptoms.
Podbielska et al. (2006) found that exposing patients with depressive symptoms to cryotherapy bettered their mood due to the increase of activity of serotonergic and noradrenergic of some parts of the brain – which led to clinical depression symptoms’ withdrawal.
The study also found that in most cases, sleep disorder improvements changed in over 80% in comparison to the state before cryotherapy.
Resulting in less tardiness of thinking, activity, jactitation and general
somatic symptoms.
The study revealed that whole body cryotherapy induces relaxation, mood elevation, memory enhancement, improvement in vigour, a decrease in tension and fatigue and a boost in energy levels. In 2008, the study revealed that Whole body cryo increases body metabolism and the concentrations of adrenaline and endorphins in the blood. Suggesting the low temperatures reduces the symptoms of anxiety and depression.