[The influence of whole body cryotherapy on mental health]. / Wplyw krioterapii ogólnoustrojowej na psychike czlowieka.

The paper presents a little known issue about the influence of wholebody cryotherapy on mental health. Observations of patients' behaviour after passing the cryogenic chamber leads to an interesting hypothesis. Short exposition to extreme cold has doubtless a profitable influence on man's frame of mind. Immediately after passing the cryogenic chamber, apart from the well known analgetic effect, we detect changes in patients' mental state such as improvement of mood, deep relaxation, freshening up, consolation, euphoria. This unusual state lasts for a long time after ending the cycle of cryotherapy. Different mechanisms of this effect are considered. New possibilities of this method have been presented. Durability of such an advantageous phenomenon are investigated in our research centre in Wroclaw.

[Hormonal and hemodynamic changes caused by whole body cooling in patients with rheumatoid arthritis]. / Zmiany hormonalne i hemodynamiczne wywolane schladzaniem calego ciala chorych na reumatoidalne zapalenie stawów.

A limited number of experiments have shown that treatment of rheumatoid arthritis by means of cooling the entire body in cryogenic chamber reduces the pain in joints affected by inflammatory process and increases their mobility. The aim of the present thesis was to try explain the mechanisms responsible for the observed improvement of the patients' condition, and an investigation of the treatment's effect on selected hemodynamic indices. Tests were carried out on 63 patients with rheumatoid arthritis mainly in the 3rd and 4th stage of illness, all of whom had been treated for 14 days, once daily, by cooling the body for two-minute periods in cryogenic chamber with temperatures ranging from -110 degrees C to -160 degrees C, followed by kinesitherapy. It was demonstrated that after a single session in the cryogenic chamber, after 7 and 14 days the level of ACTH, cortisol and beta-endorphins in blood serum rises. The level of TSH, T4, T3, GH and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha+, however, remains unchanged. The cryogenic chamber treatment does not affect the heart rate, arterial blood pressure nor the value of the left ventricle fractional shortening index and its ejection, neither does it cause of arrhythmias and ischemic changes of the heart.