Standing in a cold chamber might seem like an odd path to health, but the trend is becoming increasingly popular, especially for celebrities and athletes.

Have you ever seen a scene in a movie where a person wakes up from 100 years of sleeping in a cold chamber? Yeah, we don’t do any of there here, but extreme cold can improve mental and physical health and even prolong life. Cryotherapy is any treatment that involves the use of freezing or near-freezing temperatures and might be a safe alternative treatment and preventative for many ailments. Sometimes known as cold therapy, cryotherapy is the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy and may be used to treat a variety of tissue lesions. The most prominent use of the term refers to the surgical treatment, specifically known as cryosurgery or cryoablation.

The most popular form of cryotherapy involves standing in a chamber for 3-5 minutes. Other treatment methods include facials and spot (localized) to target specific areas such as a painful joint. Though unpleasant at first, cryotherapy gets better with each treatment. The body begins to adjust to the low temperatures and the cold becomes easier to tolerate once you know what to expect. Children, pregnant women, people with severe high blood pressure or heart conditions should NOT try cryotherapy.