Cryotherapy for Sleep: Can Cold Exposure Help You Sleep Better?

Does cryotherapy help you sleep better?

Quick answer: It may, for some people. Small randomised studies, mostly in young athletes, suggest a 2–3 minute cryotherapy session in the evening can improve self-rated sleep quality, reduce restless movement at night or add a few minutes of deep (slow-wave) sleep. Other trials found no change, and we found no trials in people with diagnosed insomnia.

Since 2013, our team has delivered more than 15,000 supervised sessions at our North York studio, for everyone from hockey players and MMA fighters to office workers with back pain. This guide covers what the sleep research shows, where it falls short, and how to time a whole body cryotherapy session if better sleep is your goal.

One caveat up front: we're a cryotherapy studio, not a sleep clinic. If you've had trouble sleeping for weeks, your family doctor is the right first stop.

What does the research on cryotherapy and sleep show?

The research is promising but young. Every sleep trial we cite was published between 2019 and 2025, and none enrolled more than 23 people.

The 2019 study that started the conversation

In a randomised trial of 22 physically active men, Douzi and colleagues gave half the group a 3-minute cold exposure after an evening run while the rest recovered passively. The cold group moved less overnight, rated their sleep better, reported less pain, and showed higher parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) activity during estimated deep sleep. One detail matters: that chamber was set to −40°C, far warmer than the −110°C to −195°C used in our cryosauna.

Cryosauna-style studies in athletes

In research papers, a cabin where your head stays above the cold, like our open-top cryosauna, is usually called partial-body cryostimulation (see our guide to cryo chambers vs cryosaunas). The results are mixed:

• Professional soccer players: nine players tested several exposure lengths at −180°C after training. Only the full 180-second session reduced night-time movement, suggesting the effect may depend on dose.
• Elite swimmers: 23 swimmers did 3 minutes at −110°C after evening training for five days of heavy training. They gained slow-wave sleep early in the night and reported less anxiety and tiredness, but total sleep time and sleep efficiency did not change.
• College basketball players: 12 Division I athletes did five days of post-exercise sessions and saw no improvement in measured or self-reported sleep.

Repeated sessions in healthy young adults

A 2024 randomised trial gave 20 healthy young adults (9 women, 11 men) a session every day for five days. Self-rated sleep quality rose modestly (from 3.6 to 3.9 on the study's scale), especially in women, and slow-wave sleep increased by about 7 minutes a night. Other sleep measures did not change.

What a broader review says

A 2025 systematic review of sleep interventions in elite sport found that sleep hygiene education was the most effective way to increase sleep quantity. Cold water immersion showed improved sleep quality, but the authors said more studies are needed to confirm it.

Whole body cryotherapy and sleep quality: what does the evidence show by population?

Here's how the main trials line up. Notice how small they are, and how often participants were young, fit and male.

Older adults, shift workers and people living with chronic pain are largely missing from this research. That doesn't mean cryotherapy can't help them; it means the evidence isn't there yet.

How might cryotherapy affect sleep?

Researchers have proposed a few explanations. None is proven, and they may work together.

More parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) activity

A 2024 meta-analysis pooling 24 studies in healthy people found that cryostimulation and cold water immersion increased heart rate variability markers of parasympathetic activity and lowered heart rate, with effects lasting up to 15 minutes. Mean blood pressure rose slightly, and responses varied between individuals. Whether that shift lasts through the night is unclear: some sleep studies recorded higher night-time parasympathetic activity, others did not.

A lower core body temperature at bedtime

Core body temperature normally falls in the evening before sleep. In the 2024 timing study, athletes who had their session an hour before bed had the lowest core temperature an hour after going to bed. The authors suggest this drop, plus parasympathetic activation, may explain the recovery benefit of a pre-bed session, although sleep itself did not measurably improve.

Less pain and soreness

In the 2019 Douzi trial, pain was significantly lower after the cold session, and the authors suggest pain relief may partly explain the better sleep. The swimmers' study also recorded lower salivary C-reactive protein, an inflammation marker. If soreness after hard training keeps you up, this may be the most plausible route; see our guide to cryotherapy for muscle recovery and DOMS.

Is cryotherapy before bed better than a morning session?

Most of the studies above scheduled sessions in the evening, usually after training, and we found no trial comparing morning and evening sessions for sleep.

The 2024 timing study compared a session straight after 7 p.m. training with one an hour before bed. Neither improved sleep compared with no cryotherapy, but the pre-bed session produced the strongest overnight parasympathetic activity, so the authors favour that slot for recovery.

What this means when you book

• If you train in the evening: a session soon after your workout matches how most of the studies were run.
• If you want a session close to bedtime: our studio hours are Monday to Friday 9am–6pm and Saturday 10am–4pm (by appointment), so a session an hour before bed isn't realistic for most people. A late-afternoon or after-work booking is the closest practical option.
• If you feel buzzed afterwards: move your session earlier in the day, as explained below.

Cryotherapy for energy: why do some people feel alert instead of sleepy?

If you've read about cryotherapy for energy, you've spotted the paradox: the same few minutes of cold that help some people wind down leave others wide awake. Some of our clients feel energised right after a session, and physiology may explain why.

A 2013 study comparing a single whole-body and partial-body session found that both raised parasympathetic markers. But plasma norepinephrine, a hormone and neurotransmitter tied to alertness, also rose by roughly 57% after the partial-body session and 76% after the whole-body session. In other words, cold appears to stimulate both the “calm” and the “alert” sides of the nervous system, and individual responses likely vary.

That's why timing matters. Notice how you feel in the hours after your first few sessions:

• If you feel relaxed by evening, a late-afternoon slot may suit you.
• If you feel wired, book in the morning or at midday and treat cryotherapy for energy and recovery rather than as a wind-down.
• Either way, jot down your bedtime, wake time and how rested you feel, so you're judging a trend rather than a single night.

Who should not try cryotherapy for sleep?

Extreme cold is a real physiological stress. It can raise blood pressure slightly, one reason heart and circulation conditions are on our list. Every first visit includes a contraindication review, and a trained technician is present for every session. Cryotherapy isn't suitable if any of these apply:

• Uncontrolled high blood pressure, a recent heart attack or heart surgery, heart failure, unstable angina, valve disease or a pacemaker
• Peripheral arterial disease, DVT, or circulatory or clotting disorders
• Seizure disorders or a history of stroke
• Raynaud's, cold urticaria, cryoglobulinemia, cold-induced asthma or prior frostbite
• Pregnancy, a fever or an acute respiratory illness
• Severe claustrophobia
• Alcohol or drugs in your system

This is only part of the list. Read our full contraindications page and our cryotherapy side effects and safety guide. Under-18s need parental consent and medical clearance.

Just as important: if you snore loudly, wake up gasping, feel exhausted despite a full night in bed, or have struggled to sleep for weeks, see your doctor. Those can be signs of a sleep disorder that needs a proper assessment, and cryotherapy is not a treatment for any of them.

How can you try cryotherapy for sleep at our Toronto studio?

Cryotherapy Toronto was one of Ontario's first dedicated cryotherapy centres. If you're cleared and curious, here's how to test it at our North York studio on Dufferin Street, just south of Finch Avenue West.

1. Book a first visit. Plan about 30 minutes. It includes a free one-on-one consultation covering your health history, goals and contraindications, plus a personalised plan.
2. Start with whole body cryotherapy. You'll stand in our open-top nitrogen-vapour cryosauna for 2–3 minutes (never more than 3) at −110°C to −195°C, with your head above the cabin so you never breathe the vapour. We provide thermal gloves, socks, slippers and ear protection.
3. Give it a fair trial. The studies used anything from one session to five daily sessions. For chronic issues or athletic goals, most clients see the best results with 2–3 sessions per week, and your technician will recommend a schedule. Read more on how often you should do cryotherapy.
4. Track and adjust. Log your sleep for two weeks and book earlier if you feel too alert at night.

Whole body cryotherapy prices

Packages never expire, so a 5- or 10-pack lets you experiment with timing without pressure. Athletes can read more on our sports recovery page. Full rates are on our pricing page, or contact us or call (416) 509-4555 to book.

What are the limits of the cryotherapy and sleep research?

The honest caveats:

• Small samples. The six sleep trials above enrolled between 9 and 23 people each.
• Mostly young athletes. Participants were mainly young, fit and male. Older adults and people with chronic pain or sleep disorders are largely unstudied.
• Short follow-up. Most trials measured one to five nights, so we don't know whether effects last.
• Different equipment. Temperatures ranged from −40°C to −180°C across chambers and cabins, so results from one device may not apply to another.
• Mixed results. Two of the six trials found no sleep improvement, and where benefits appeared they were often modest: a few extra minutes of deep sleep or a slightly better self-rating.
• One research network. Five of the six sleep trials, plus the 2024 meta-analysis, came from teams linked to the University of Poitiers in France. Independent replication would strengthen the case.

Our take: cryotherapy may be a useful add-on for active people whose sleep suffers after hard evening training or from soreness. It isn't a substitute for good sleep habits; in the elite-sport review, sleep hygiene education was the most effective intervention for sleep quantity.