Extreme wellbeing treatments such sub-zero cryo-chambers and infrared saunas heated to 50°C have long been loved by celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow. While other celebrities including Kendall Jenner are also fans of ‘bio-hacking’ – using diet and lifestyle to improve the way the body function (Kendall has a wellness room featuring a hyperbaric chamber and a red light therapy bed).
The buzz term covers a range of activities including taking ice baths, intermittent fasting, monitoring your blood markers, and using brain-boosting nootropic supplements. Devotees claim that these treatments work to change the body’s chemistry, helping to promote longevity, boost metabolism and post-workout recovery as well as improve the immune system and general wellbeing.
For most of us without an A-list bank balance, the options for bio-hacking have been limited to at-home ice baths or infrared sauna blankets. However, now a new centre, Vidavii – part spa, part wellness clinic – in Central London, is offering four high-tech biohacking therapies in one 30-minute session.
Each therapy – a 3D body scan, cryo chamber, ionized oxygen and infared chamber and a lymphatic drainage massage machine – work together to help improve metabolism, lower inflammation and injury recovery time, boost lymphatic drainage and reduce bloating in just four weeks.
Vidavii’s boffins are also researching whether the circuit can help reduce their clients’ biological ages over time. Co-founder and CEO Michal Cohen-Sagi explains: “While standalone therapies like infrared saunas or cryotherapy are effective individually, combining them in a personalised circuit means we can influence how our bodies respond to stress, environmental and lifestyle choices over time.”
So how would the circuit impact my body and metabolism? I found out….
The full body scan
The first step was a 3D body scan that measures key body metrics such as fat-free mass index (your muscle mass relative to your height), waist-to-hip ratio, metabolism and the amount of water held in your muscles, showing where you have any inflammation. “This data allows us to customise the circuit to each individual and measure progress,” Michal says.
The initial 3D scan – in which I stood still on a rotating plate while the scanner moved around me – dictates how long each person needs to spend in each part of the circuit, and sets out the right programme for them.
My scan revealed that I had water retention in my legs and needed to reduce my hip-to-waist ratio, as research shows this is important to protect against future problems such as heart disease – just 0.1 percent reduction would help better protect me against future heart problems, says Michal.
It also showed that I had inflammation on the left side of my body. In fact, I discovered that my left side is around a centimetre bigger than the right. To combat this, the technician recommended I do three rounds of the 30 minute circuit over three consecutive days, then another two sessions, a week apart, to begin to see results. After that, I’d only need to go once a week for maintenance.
The squeeze chamber
The first part of the circuit, the Squeeze Chamber, is designed to be like having a powerful lymphatic drainage massage in a speedy ten minutes, boosting circulation, blood flow and releasing water retention. Lymphatic drainage massage therapies are fast-becoming a wellbeing buzz word and research shows it’s effective not just for relieving medical conditions like lymphoedema, which causes swelling in the tissues, but for aiding post-workout muscle recovery and even jet lag.
Given I often have water retention in my ankles especially after a day on my feet, I was keen to find out whether this could help. But as someone who isn’t keen on confined spaces, I found the Squeeze chamber a little claustrophobic at first given that it’s a body-sized tube. I had to slide into it up to my torso before it rotated to fit snugly around my waist. When the machine started, it felt a little like I was being sucked down inside the tube, since the pressure contracts and releases around the waist to stimulate blood flow around the body
It was disconcerting at first but once I was reassured I could hit the red button to stop it any time, I relaxed a bit, and actually started to enjoy it as the pressure is rhythmic and almost soothing. Immediately afterwards I felt lighter in my legs and feet and my cheeks looked pink even though I hadn’t moved or broken a sweat. The biggest difference was that by the end of the day, my ankles didn’t look puffy. Result.
The breathe chamber
The interior of this machine, glowing with different coloured LED lights, looked more like a spaceship than a sauna. And according to Michal, it is, indeed, more high-tech than other infrared saunas. “Rather than simply using just red-light infrared therapy, this combines ionized oxygen with infrared, blue, and green light therapies too,” she says. “These work together to enhance cellular rejuvenation, balance metabolism, boost brain function, and calm the nervous system.”
My specific programme would switch between red light, which studies show can help boost collagen production and improve skin’s elasticity, green light, for easing pain and inflammation, and blue light, which can help improve skin concerns like acne.
I’ve used infrared saunas in the past, so after I’d donned my protective glasses, I was expecting to pour with sweat. However, this was a much gentler heat and although I could still feel my muscles gradually relaxing and warming, I didn’t even perspire. Afterwards, I felt warmed-up, like I’d done a thorough stretching session.
The cryo chamber
I’m a wuss when it comes to the cold and I’ve never tried an ice-bath, so just the thought of a cryo-chamber – essentially a human-sized freezer at a frigid -85°C degrees – was intimidating. Yet according to research, this extreme temperature drop can help improve post-workout muscle recovery and inflammation and boost metabolism, so trying it was a no-brainer.
My scan results recommended that four minutes in the cryo chamber would be the optimum time for me to get the best results. After I’d layered up with a hat, gloves, fleecy booties and a face mask to protect my nose and lips from the extreme cold, Michal advised me to breathe slowly and keep moving to prevent my muscles seizing up. “ Boxing moves like punching the air or doing small squats are great,” she says. She also suggested I use their headphones to listen to a four-minute track to take my mind off the cold.
When I stepped inside, the cold literally took my breath away and I had to remind myself to breathe slowly since my first instinct was to gasp. Moving to the music (Survivor by Destiny’s Child, incidentally) really helped take my mind off it but by the end I could feel my muscles getting tighter, and weirdly, areas of tension in my shoulders began to ache slightly. When I emerged, the hairs on my arms were white with frost but I immediately felt a rush of energy and I was on a high afterwards. I felt alert and wide awake for the rest of the day with no mid-afternoon slump, followed by a great night’s sleep.
The results
After four weeks of circuits, I returned for a final 3D scan to get my results. I hadn’t changed my diet or exercise routine during the month and yet I was stunned to learn that I had lost a kilogram in weight and my BMI (body mass index) had reduced by 0.2 percent. The inflammation on my left side had reduced too – my left bicep circumference had slimmed by just under two centimetres and my left thigh by half a centimetre. My hips had also shrunk by 1.5cm.
Of course, these results weren’t visible to the naked eye, but there had been a clear reduction in inflammation and water retention. If I wanted more dramatic results, I’d need to combine the circuits with changes to my diet and exercise routine. If money was no object, I’d try to incorporate a maintenance circuit into my week but at £98 per circuit, or a package of five for £450, it’s a financial commitment I’d struggle to justify long-term. But the results speak for themselves, and it’s safe to say that I’m a bio-hacking convert.
For more information, visit vidavii.com
