Explainer | We try whole-body cryotherapy, used by LeBron James, Jennifer Aniston and others for better sleep, muscle recovery, lower stress

Whole-body cryotherapy involves spending two to four minutes in a chamber with much of your body exposed to air cooled to between minus 110 and minus 140 Celsius

Fans of the treatment use it to reduce inflammation, speed up muscle recovery post-exercise, improve sleep and relieve stress. We give it a try in Hong Kong

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Whole-body cryotherapy – exposing your body to freezing cold air in a special chamber – is said to reduce inflammation, speed up muscle recovery post-exercise, boost sleep quality and relieve stress. The Post gives it a try in Hong Kong. Photo: °Cryo

Published: 12:45pm, 30 Aug 2023Updated: 12:56pm, 1 Sep 2023

For many professional athletes, such as basketball players LeBron James and Stephen Curry, cryotherapy is a must for their postgame recovery.

A-list celebrities such as actresses Jennifer Aniston and Demi Moore, singer Alicia Keys and actor Will Smith use it too for its touted benefits – reducing inflammation, speeding up muscle recovery post-exercise, boosting sleep quality and relieving stress.

Cryotherapy is the use of cold temperatures for therapeutic purposes. Placing ice packs on a knee injury is considered cryotherapy, as is cold-water immersion – even taking a cold shower.

The form that gets the greatest celebrity attention is whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) – which consists of getting into a chamber that envelops the body up to the neck, or entering an enclosure in which the temperature is set between minus 110 degrees Celsius (minus 166 degrees Fahrenheit) and minus 140 degrees Celsius. Achieving this frigid temperature requires either liquid nitrogen or electricity, which makes this method costly.

Even taking a cold shower counts as a form of cryotherapy. Photo: Shutterstock

While this temperature reading looks daunting, the exposed skin’s temperature remains at around minus 35 degrees Celsius because the body works hard to keep warm. WBC sessions usually last two to four minutes.

Participants wear protective clothing such as gloves, long socks and shorts to prevent frostbite injury.