80 JULY/AUGUST _ 201
WHAT IS IT?
Sensory deprivation meditationWHAT IS IT
SUPPOSED TO DO?
Reduce stress, improve sleepHOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
$50 to $125WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE?
Absolutely nothingFLOAT TANKS
echnically, any treatment
with the potential to im-
prove the body should count
as biohacking. Yoga, for
example. Or cutting back on
Oreos. But after a few weeks of reading blogs
and listening to podcasts, I learned that le-
gitimate biohacks it within a few themes:
temperature-related interventions, diets,
drugs and supplements, and treatments
intended to boost the efects of meditation.
Float tanks, like the one I’m bobbing in
at Ininity Float in New York City, belong in
that last category. The womb-like pod, warm
and shallow with no discernible distinction
between the water and the air above it, is sup-
posed to help me achieve the deeper state of
mindfulness I’d normally have to meditate
for weeks or months to reach. Here’s a non-
exhaustive list of the benefits associated
with mindfulness: reductions in inflam-
matory markers such as C-reactive protein
and interleukin-6; improved attention span,
sleep quality, and memory; increased neuro-
plasticity; lower anxiety and depression; and
less painful pain.
In the tank, I’m so buoyant I actually can’tIt’s part of a slate of cutting-edge medical
treatments called biohacks that promise
radical improvements in health, happi-
ness, productivity, and longevity and have
lately been sweeping the internet health-
scape. Cryotherapy, in particular, has been
used in Japan to treat rheumatoid arthri-
tis since the 1970s. It’s like putting ice on
a sprained ankle, only more expensive and
less scientiically proven.
I put my hands on the lip of the cham-
ber, like a meerkat about to be stewed in
a cauldron. Margulies turns a knob and a
minus-270-degree-Fahrenheit mist of nitro-
gen gas blasts onto my lower torso. It’s more
surprising than awful. I up my marching
speed. My skin gets rosy. Margulies gives
me periodic updates. One minute, he says.
Two minutes. Just thirty seconds left now.
Margulies has been training people since- He’s seen his clients have more trouble
recovering from injuries as they age. A cou-
ple of years ago, he tried cryotherapy for the
irst time after inding out he needed a hip
replacement. “It helped me go to work every
day while I was waiting for surgery, and it
helped me recover after,” he says. Margu-
lies was so convinced of the beneits that he
spent $55,000 on his own chamber, charg-
ing $90 a pop for three-minute treatments.
Back in my robe, my skin is numb from
the ribs down, but I can feel the blood seeping
back, as if I’m sitting in front of a ire after a
long day of playing around in the snow. I can’t
tell if it’s the treatment or the relief of hav-
ing survived, but I feel incredible—glowy,
clear-headed, and happy.
“You’re smiling,” Margulies says. “Every-
one always smiles when they come out.”
The feeling ends up lasting the whole
thirty-minute walk back to my office. Of
course, that could have been the pleasant
spring day. Or the contagious efect of the
smile. It might have been the exercise of
walking. But also: It might have worked.
hand my robe to Michael
Margulies, one earnest-
faced half of the husband-
and-wife team that owns
NYC Cryo, a black, low-ceil-
inged basement gym in New York City, and
I am practically naked inside an eight-foot-
tall silver cylinder. Fog seeps over the top,
like it’s been pumped in from a stage set for
Macbeth. I march in place in my thick black
crew socks and rub my nubby white gloves
together. Margulies tells me not to be ner-
vous, but I am. Three years ago, a woman
died during an after-hours solo session at a
cryotherapy spa in Las Vegas. Authorities
believe the platform was set too low. She
breathed too much nitrogen gas, passed out,
and froze to death.
With how much Margulies is talking,
it’s almost as if he’s the one who’s nervous.
“The beneits of cryotherapy are—it reduces
inlammation, helps sports recovery, helps
you get deeper sleep by increasing REM,” he
says. “It helps with depression, and it burns
between 400 and 800 calories a session.”
I’m not sure that last bit is even possible,
but the treatment does sound intriguing.
WHAT IS IT?
Cooling the body with nitrogenWHAT IS IT
SUPPOSED TO DO?
Reduce inlammationHOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
$90 per sessionWHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE?
Standing on your porch in a
blizzardCRYOTHERAPY
c. 300
Ancient Olympic17 1 3
Pierre Jartoux, a
Jesuit missionary
in China, reports
increased energy
and improved
appetite after
eating ginseng,
kicking of the
international gin-1932–33
Engineer Rich-
ard Buckminster
Fuller tests his
“Dymaxion” sleep
schedule—nap-
ping every six
hours for a total
of two hours’
sleep per day. It
ultimately failed1964
Romanian psy-
chologist Corneliu
E. Giurgea synthe-
sizes piracetam,
the world’s irst
“nootropic,”
a cognitive-
enhancement
drug.2004
British artist Neil
Harbisson, born
color-blind, has
an antenna-like
sensor implanted
in his head. The
sensor trans-
lates visible
wavelengths into
vibrations, allow-AN
OF
BIOHACKING