Customers at KryoLife spa in New York City are feeling the chill with a procedure called cryotherapy, where sub-Arctic temperatures are applied to the body to increase energy. Jillian Kitchener reports.
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Lena Roth is subjecting her body to temperatures below -266 degrees Fahrenheit... because she says, it feels great. It's a procedure known as cryotherapy. And customers are undergoing this short-term freezing inside Manhattan's KryoLife spa, which claims it's a way to boost metabolism and increase energy. Lena Roth agrees: (SOUNDBITE) (English) LENA ROTH, CRYOTHERAPY PATIENT, SAYING: "I cycle, so I can go and I can have 45 minutes of an amazing workout session that I didn't have before. I'm amazed with myself. I'm like a superwoman now." KryoLife CEO Joanna Fryben says the treatment solves a variety of issues, like stiffness and insomnia. She says it works by making the brain believe the body is freezing which triggers an increase of blood, enriched with oxygen, enzymes and nutrients, to flow to the body's core. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOANNA FRYBEN, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF KRYOLIFE, SAYING: "Whenever anybody hears the temperatures ranging from minus 284 to minus 264, they ask, 'Are you freezing people?' No. We don't freeze people. It's actually safer than a hot sauna." But not all doctors are on board -- some say cryotherapy puts the body under stress and despite the socks, gloves and bathing suit, they say frostbite IS a risk. Cryotherapy is not FDA-approved. But KryoLife spa says the treatment -- first developed in Japan -- is a trend that is bound to evolve in the U.S....as word spreads and the public warms to the idea.