Whole-body cryotherapy uses dry air as cold as −110°C for two to three minutes. You're fully kitted in protective gloves, socks, slippers, a face mask and headphone ear muffs, and you stay in control the entire time — you can step out whenever you want. Because it's dry cold rather than water, your core stays warm and the three minutes passes faster than most people expect.

Whole-body cryotherapy is most commonly used to ease muscle soreness, calm inflammation, and lift mood and energy. Research consistently shows reduced soreness and better-perceived recovery after hard training, and cold exposure triggers a sharp noradrenaline release that leaves most people feeling alert and clear. It's a recovery and wellbeing tool — not a treatment for any medical condition.

Yes — muscle recovery is cryotherapy's most-studied use. Extreme cold constricts blood vessels and dampens the inflammatory response behind next-day soreness, and reviews of whole-body cryotherapy consistently report less muscle soreness and better-perceived recovery in the day or two after hard training. The effect builds with regular use, which is why most people train alongside a multipack rather than one-off sessions.

A single whole-body cryotherapy session at Social Remedy is $89, with 3, 6 and 10-packs that bring it down to $79 a session. Our Fire & Ice combination — 45 min infrared sauna plus a three-minute cryotherapy session — is $99 solo, or $144 for two people doing the protocol together. No membership is required to book.

Neither is better — they're different doors into cold. Cryotherapy is a fast, effective, systemic hit at −110°C for three minutes; an ice bath is a slower, wetter contrast ritual at from 1 - 15°C for several minutes. Cryo suits acute soreness and a quick energy reset; the ice bath suits a longer ritual and mental grit. Plenty of people use both.

Recovery and inflammation respond to regular use rather than one-offs, so many people do two to three sessions a week — which is exactly what our 6 and 10-packs are built around. If you're using it for post-training recovery, a session within a day of hard exercise is most common. Consistency matters more than any single session.

Just dry activewear — we provide everything else: gloves, socks, slippers, a face mask, and ear muffs with built-in headphones so you can play your own music. Your skin needs to be completely dry going into the chamber, so you'll towel off any sweat or moisture first.

No — and we won't pretend otherwise. Extreme cold does activate your metabolism as your body works to rewarm itself, but whole-body cryotherapy is a recovery and wellbeing tool, not a weight-loss treatment. Anyone selling it as a fat-loss shortcut is overstating the evidence.

For most healthy people, yes — but it isn't suitable for everyone. Avoid cryotherapy if you have uncontrolled high blood pressure, a heart condition or recent cardiac event, are pregnant, or have a cold-related condition such as Raynaud's or cold urticaria. If you're unsure, check with your doctor before your first session.

Social Remedy offers whole-body cryotherapy in Byron Bay, serving the wider Northern Rivers and Far North Coast. We're an easy drive from Ballina, Lennox Head, Bangalow, Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads, and a regular stop for visitors heading through the region. You don't need to be a member — book a single session or a Fire & Ice and walk in.