The extreme cold can be jarring – but it can also help you fall asleep and stay that way.
A new study Researchers at the University of Montreal and the University of Poitiers found that spending just five minutes in a chamber cooled to a bone-chilling negative 130 degrees Fahrenheit could be the key to achieving deeper, more restful sleep.
In this brilliant experiment, 20 healthy young adults – nine women and 11 men, who were on average around 23 years old – took off their underwear, socks, croc-style shoes and gloves in a show of bravery. cryostimulation Sessions for five consecutive days.
Result? “Slow sleep, considered the most restful stage of sleep, increased by an average of 7.3 minutes during the first two sleep cycles.” [following cryotherapy]”Olivier Dupuy, associate professor at Udemy’s School of Kinesiology and Physical Activity Sciences, who served as lead author on the study, said a statement,
But this is not a one-time deal. The study, published in the December issue of the journal Cryobiology, found that just one cold session was not enough to improve sleep, with benefits only appearing after five consecutive cold exposures.
The researchers also identified a notable gender difference, with women benefiting more from snowy weather than men.
While the study included participants without sleep problems, researchers said cryostimulation may be especially helpful for people who are struggling to get enough shut-eye.
In 2020, the latest year for which federal data is available, 14.5% of American adults had trouble falling asleep most of the day or every day in the past month, and 17.8% of adults had trouble staying asleep, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
An added bonus: The extreme cold may even improve your mood. Repeated cryotherapy sessions had a positive effect on participants’ psychological health, reducing their anxiety and improving their overall mood, with women benefiting more from those benefits.
There is also a good benefit for sports stars.
“For elite athletes, it may help with recovery, while for the general population, when used in combination with physical exercise, it may help people with chronic inflammation or mild dementia,” Dupuy said.
The study was part of a larger effort to understand the effects of cryostimulation on the body, which began earlier this year when Dupuy and his colleagues received funding to study its use in athletes preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics .
Other research has shown that time spent in a cold chamber can help relieve muscle and joint paingive rise to immune systemAnd increase energy levelsFor skin care enthusiastTreatment is also shown stimulate collagen production,
Many questions still remain regarding this How cryostimulation can help other diseasesBut Dupee said one thing is clear: “This is not a placebo effect.”
