QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE COLD-ARREST™ PROCEDURE
(This page is deliberately presented as a continuous document, (without HTML accordions that hide answers to questions until clicked) to make this information easy to capture and quickly translate into other languages using a digital translation tool, such as Google Translate™.)
1. Is the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure a cure for COVID-19?
No, it is NOT. Though a number of internet sites have alleged that this procedure is a purported cure for the disease, COVID-19, the word “cure” does not appear in any version of the video. In America, the word “cure”, when applied to a disease, is effectively reserved for the exclusive use of the American Medical Association. Nothing is a “cure” unless they say it is. And they haven’t really used this word since the era of the Salk vaccine. However, even if this word were not reserved, we would still not describe the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure as a cure for COVID-19, just as the Salk vaccine was not a cure for polio. This is an additional prevention and experimental early stage treatment only. Once coronavirus has migrated down the trachea (windpipe) to the lungs, the disease may be beyond the reach of many of the potential benefits of this treatment
This procedure is remarkably simple. It is designed to potentially raise the temperature of the human sinuses to above the highest known coronavirus kill temperature of 133°F or 56°C. The human sinuses, typically the coolest part of the body, are often at a more ideal temperature for coronavirus to thrive and replicate within the epithelial cells that line the nasal and sinus cavities. (Viruses cannot reproduce or even move on their own.) The walls of the sinuses are covered with a thin mucosal layer that acts like fly-paper – trapping inhaled particles on its sticky surface. Over one or more days, as the mucosal layer slowly moves, driven by the beating motion of the cilia (tiny hair-like structures) protruding from the nasal and sinus walls, individual virions (virus “cells”) are forced to move along within this layer of mucus and some of them may come in sufficient contact with the underlying epithelial cells to bond with them, inject RNA, and thereby force the epithelial cells to stop their normal function and begin producing virus duplicates.
With regular exposures to air temperatures high enough to kill coronavirus (these temperatures were established by peer-reviewed studies that measured the survivability of various coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV), at very least, the replication rate of the virus is slowed down dramatically. And, at best, the virus may be ruptured and killed (deactivated) by the heat – rendering them incapable of any further infection. Killing (deactivating – viruses are not technically alive in the first place) as many virions as possible, while they linger within the thin mucocal layer on the surface of the sinuses, can dramatically slow the progression of the infection, giving precious, additional time for the body to generate antibodies that can attach to this virus and “mark it for destruction” by the body’s killer T-Cells (lymphocytes).
It is this immune response that will eventually kill any lingering viral survivors that may remain in any part of the body. This race against time, to keep the number of invading virions as low as possible, while the immune system prepares to begin destroying them, is the primary goal of this procedure. Once large numbers of virus have migrated from their optimal reproduction zone (the sinuses) to the area within the host where they begin to inflict potentially lethal damage (the lungs) causing pneumonia, the infection has progressed too far to be halted by mere bio-physical (heated air) mechanism alone. Medical reports suggest that even use of the anti-viral drug, Tamiflu, appears to have little impact at this more advanced stage of Covid-19 infection.
Therefore, this procedure is likely to be of benefit only when regularly used as a preventative measure or as a potential treatment early in the infection process. The CAUTIONS that appear at our website, before pointing viewer to the video, clearly warn against any overestimation of this procedure’s potential for treatment of an advanced progression of this disease. It should be considered only as an additional prevention step along with the other preventions that are currently recommended by health authorities worldwide. This procedure may also have further benefit as an experimental, early-stage treatment while the infection remains confined to the sinuses. Those who have tested the procedure in informal self-administered trials beginning at the first onset of symptoms routinely report rapid reduction or elimination of symptoms in just a matter of hours.
2. Is the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure safe?
Until this Procedure has been scientifically tested in clinical trials as approved for use by one or more healthy agencies or medical associations, it remains an experimental treatment. Anyone who evaluates this procedure and elects to test it for themselves should understand that all aspects of the test are under their exclusive control, as the experimenter. Likewise, all responsibility for the outcome from such a test also rests solely with the experimenter. Anyone declining to accept such responsibility SHOULD NOT engage in experimental testing of this or any other, as yet unproven, procedure.
TEMPERATURE
Because the experimental treatment temperatures suggested for use with the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure are below those that health authorities already deemed safe for humans who engage in sauna bathing, and because the only materials being ingested are warm air and clean, room-temperature water, this procedure is designed to be just as safe as using a sauna (which has been done for thousands of years) or as safe as drying wet hair with a hair dryer, when the Procedure is followed as described.
CAUTIONS FOR SAUNA USE
A long list of CAUTIONS is prominently display in a placard on any commercial or public sauna regarding avoidance of sauna use when a fever or a high blood-pressure condition is present, when consuming alcohol or exercising, etc. And, sauna manufacturers also caution that bathers first consult their physician if they are being treated for an underlying medical condition or taking prescription drugs, etc. All these manufacturer’s cautions should be heeded. When more than a single sauna visit occurs in the same day, a cool-down period is recommended to allow body temperature and heart rate to fully return to normal before engaging in a subsequent session. Other listed cautions include warnings for ending the sauna session if dizziness headache, nausea, or other symptoms develop. Sauna manufacturers often suggest starting with very short sessions (3 – 5 minutes) and work up to longer sessions gradually, as your experience and heat tolerance increases.
ELECTRICAL SAFETY
Hair dryers were designed to be used while all or a portion of the body, scalp or hair, is wet. They are double-insulated, usually with a plastic housing. And, they offer further government-mandated protection to users (since about 1986) by adding a required, 2-button GFCI (Ground-Fault Interrupt Circuit) at the end of the power cord to instantly shut off power if an electrical short occurs, such as a user dropping the blow dryer into a bathtub full of water while the user is sitting in it. (Definitely NOT recommended).
Still, this GFCI plug helps to make a hair dryer the safest external heat source that is readily available in a typical household – since it was specifically designed to be hand-held to heat up part of a human body where water or moisture is also present.
AVOIDING ASBESTOS RISKS
If your hair dryer does not have this 2-button GFCI, you can install a GFCI-equipped replacement plug, if you wish. They are available on-line or in stores that sell electrical components. However, keep in mind that a new, GFCI-equipped hair dryer may only cost $10. to $15, and a replacement plug may cost nearly this much, as well. Also, very old hair dryers often had a second problem that you may also wish to avoid. Some of them were made using asbestos as a heat insulator, until at least the early 1980’s. The inhalation of asbestos (especially in friable form) has been associated with health conditions, including asbestosis and mesothelioma. You may find it more practical to avoid these potential problems by tossing older blow dryers without GFCIs.
SAFE DISTANCE, OPERATION AND AIR FLOW
When using a blow dryer with the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure, it never needs to be brought closer to the face and nose than would be used in the normal drying of hair. Also, a natural feed-back loop is also built into this self-administered procedure, because of the large number of heat-sensing nerve endings in the human lips and nose. By avoiding any discomfort, as is emphasized when using the procedure, the application of heat to the nose should be just as safe as applying heat to the hair and scalp.
If the cupping of the fingers over part of the air intake raises the temperature of the blow dryer too much, it may become uncomfortable to hold. This prompts the user to either increase air flow, a little, or discontinue use. No aspect of the procedure should cause any discomfort. If restricting air flow makes you uneasy, skip this step to allay those concerns. But, realistically the most serious outcome from airflow restriction is a blow-dryer that becomes a little too warm to hold comfortably. This is a clue that you need to allow a little greater air flow.
Also, because the blow dryer is 5 to 10 inches, (12-25 centimeters) from the nose, it is never close enough to actually “force” any air into the sinuses. It is your act of inhaling that causes the airflow within the sinuses, whether using a blow dryer or sitting in a sauna. Normal, slow deep breaths are all that is required to create this air flow. No hyperventilation is needed or desired. The stream of heated air from the blow dryer only acts to create a hot air pool around the nose that is taken in while inhaling – recreating the hot air supply equivalent to breathing inside a sauna.
Moving the blow dryer any closer than the nearest suggested distance is almost certain to create discomfort, and is strongly discouraged. But, it is also important to remember that this procedure is designed to heat the sinuses to a temperature high enough to kill most common cold-causing viruses, such as rhinovirus and coronavirus. So, using a blow dryer at extreme distances from the nose (such as arm’s length), while safe, will also be completely ineffective. Strive to inhale the highest air temperature that you can comfortably and safely tolerate, and no more than that. By varying the distance between hair dryer and nose, you can easily regulate the temperature of the air you inhale.
UNUSUAL CONDITIONS
Anyone with unusual underlying nasal or sinus conditions should consult their physician before entering a sauna or applying hot air to their nose and sinuses to be sure that the warm air will not exacerbate their condition or their symptoms.
NASAL DRYNESS
In 35 years, we have yet to receive a report of even a minor injury when using this procedure as described. The only complaint, reported by a handful of users, was that their nose and sinuses seemed to become somewhat dry when they used this procedure repeatedly. However, since the addition of the water spray was added to the procedure, to enhance nasal and sinus moistening while reducing facial temperature, this complaint has also disappeared. Keeping the nasal and sinus mucus moist and sticky is important. With sauna use, nasal moistening with a water spray is apparently unnecessary. Natural perspiration that develops while inside a sauna seems to provide more than sufficient facial moisture. Do remember to drink sufficient amounts of water, during sauna bathing, to replace all water lost through perspiring.
USE OF DISTILLED OR PRE-BOILED WATER
Filling your spray bottle with distilled water, or water that has previously been boiled for 10-minutes and then allowed to cool to room temperature, may be the safest approach. Because we do not routinely bathe, shower, or swim in distilled or pre-boiled water, this suggestion is certainly not absolutely required. In some communities, around the world, bottled or distilled water is currently unavailable. This should not prevent the use of the procedure – especially since the water, sprayed several inches of centimeters away from the face enters only the lower part of the nostrils before evaporating. This is no more water that might normally splash into the nose during showering.
3. Does this procedure have a scientific basis, or proof of effectiveness?
As far as we are aware, there have been no randomized clinical trials of the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure. This means that there is no existing scientific data available for evaluating the degree of effectiveness offered by this Procedure.
Why haven’t these studies been done? Acquiring funding for a study to test a procedure that offers absolutely no hope of future revenue or income has traditionally proven difficult, if not impossible. Also, institutions that receive a large portion of their annual research funding from pharmaceutical companies might also be understandably reluctant to engage in the study of any free, zero-cost procedure that holds any potential risk of jeopardizing any part of the multi-billion dollar cold-remedy or pharmaceutical industries.
Then, there is the over-arching allopathic barrier to testing. Doctors with MD or DO after their name are trained to practice within a rather narrow medical tradition, known as allopathy, which is based on treating diseases and other abnormal conditions primarily by prescribing and/or administering patent medicines and performing various surgical procedures, all of which require medical licensure. Other approaches, with potential medical benefits, that might be used by other, non-allopathic medical traditions, or administered by patients themselves, such as the bio-physical treatment, Cold-Arrest™, are far less often evaluated by formal clinical study, since they offer little, or no, financial or proprietary benefit to the allopathic medical or pharamceutical industries.
In spite of these traditional limitations, today’s unusual global pandemic might seem to widen the possibility that someone, somewhere might be willing to offer the funding for a scientific study of Cold-Arrest™. But, actually conducting this type of study carries enormous risks for several influential groups. First imagine the outcome of such a study to show that the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure was ineffective. Those who conducted the study might be ridiculed for engaging in a non-tradtitional, non-allopathis test. But, the opposite outcome comes with far greater consequences. Imagine what might happen if such a study were to conclusively prove the effectiveness of the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure in preventing or treating early-stage Covid-19. Such an outcome might potentially make medical authorities and political leaders look foolish for previously overlooking such a simple and inexpensive approach – one that might have averted this entire crisis with little or no cost to society in terms of money or loss of life . In addition to the many other types of political and medical fallout that might result, the litigious nature of modern western society might also lead to decades of class-action lawsuits against government agencies and medical institutions – for needlessly bankrupting families and entire nations with what many groups already consider a draconian response to the pandemic. Taken together, regardless of the outcome, these factors would seem to make such a study far too risky for the medical establishment to undertake in the current world climate.
So, the official “unconfirmed, experimental status” of the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure is likely to remain with us for the foreseeable future. But, while it is true that there is not yet incontrovertible evidence from a randomized, placebo-controlled scientific study proving that the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure works – there is also NO evidence proving that it doesn’t work – and a considerable amount of evidence suggesting that it does.
The entire Procedure was carefully developed and designed based on the scientific method.
OBSERVATIONS
First, we know, from verified laboratory studies, that virtually all upper-respiratory viruses that typically emerge during the cold-and-flu season, can begin to be deactivated by exposure to air temperatures above 35° C or 95° F. in as little as a hour. At temperatures above 56° C or 133° F, virtually all such viruses are killed (deactivated) when exposed for as little as 2 to 15 minutes. This is true for all known coronaviruses, for which scientifically established kill temperatures have been reported, as well. Laboratory survival data for the current SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, is not yet available. However, the similarities between the 2003 SARS-CoV coronavirus and current one, SARS-CoV-2, have been widely recognized. Until conclusive, current data are available, scientists around the world continue to rely upon this prior kill-temperature data for medicine and vaccine purification during manufacture. These are the data that we have also provisionally relied upon to establish the likely kill temperature for the current SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Should new laboratory data establish a higher kill temperature, we will also immediately report it here. To date, no kill temperature outside the currently established range has been reported for any of the eight known coronaviruses (seven of which are known to infect humans.).
Second, we also know that virtually all the families of virus that are typically prevalent during the cold and flu season, that infect the human respiratory system, tend to prefer the coolest possible temperatures. Whether they enter the body through the nose or mouth, they prefer to inhabit and replicate within the epithelial cells that line the nose and sinuses where ambient temperatures are the coolest in the body – usually only a few degrees above room temperature, where they exhibit the longest survival times . The more than 200 members of the rhinovirus family, which cause more than 50% of all common colds worldwide, have never been found anywhere else in the body except the sinuses. And, in as many as 80% of current coronavirus patients, the infection also appears to begin and end solely within the sinuses, producing only minor symptoms (sometimes none at all) before being detected, tagged, and destroyed by the body’s immune system. The temperature of this replication zone, within the sinuses, just a few inches, or centimeters, from the nostrils, can be easily modified by increasing the temperature of the inhaled air supply.
HYPOTHESIS
With these above two observations in place, we can form a hypothesis (guess). “By raising the temperature of the sinuses above the kill temperature for invading virus, by inhaling hot air, it may be possible to kill large numbers of them, slow or stop the infection, as evidenced by a reduction or elimination of the accompanying symptoms.”
EXPERIMENTATION
To test this theory, I performed repeated experiments on cold infections in myself. And, a group of volunteers performed identical tests on themselves. We collectively found that respiratory symptoms could indeed be stopped, in case after case, usually in a matter of hours. To make this approach usable by nearly everyone in the developed world, I also developed a safe and effective alternative to the hot air available in sauna bathing, by using an ordinary blow dryer as the external heat source. This was done to help the millions of people around the world with no regular access to a sauna. Comparing symptom reduction outcomes, with these two methods, showed nearly identical results. Next, I shared these results with thousands of other readers of the book, “Conquer the Common Cold and Flu” (1984), who, in turn, performed their own personal experiments, and reportedly achieved similar results. Over the past few decades, instead of suffering from an average of 2 to 3 colds per year, those who shared their personal results reported experiencing far fewer colds. Many reported no common cold symptoms at all over a series of many cold and flu seasons. And, because many of those who did report colds noted their occurrence during the warmer months of the year, these may have been caused by one or more of the so-called “summer cold” viruses, such as non-polio enteroviruses, that are known to be able to survive considerably higher temperatures than do the viruses that are typically prevalent during the traditional cold-and-flu-season.
These results are far from statistically ideal. Because, understandably, not everyone who bought the book, “Conquer the Common cold and Flu”, wrote to us to share their results. However, to help improve the potential accuracy of our results, we offered all book purchasers a 100% money-back guarantee. (That guarantee continues to appear on the web page that offers this book – even though that page also explains that purchase of the book is no longer necessary, since all the important information, and more, is now available FREE in the on-line video, “Stop COVID-19 Now“). During the 35+ years that the book has been available, we have yet to receive a single refund request from anyone who received the audio book and actually tried the procedure, personally – a level of customer satisfaction that, in my experience, is quite unusual.
CONCLUSION
In evaluating these personal experiments, any individual’s series of results, must be regarded as purely anecdotal evidence, from a scientific perspective. However, when so many people have conducted the same set of experiments, over decades, and have achieved virtually identical, positive results, one may begin to think that, as biologist, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake once observed, “The plural of anecdote, is data.” In the absence of randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials, this considerable body of experimental evidence is all we currently have to offer in support of this procedure.
Is this the equivalent of peer-reviewed clinical study? No, it is not. However, if you believe that this evidence is sufficient to warrant your own further investigation and experimentation, then you may wish to at least give this procedure a try. If you already have access to a sauna, or own a hair dryer, you can conduct your own test without any additional cost. All the information needed to do this is presented in the free online video, or the transcript of that video also appears on the website at https://futureworldnow.com/corona for those who would prefer a written set of instructions.
Given the current international coronavirus pandemic, we have chosen to release the details of the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure through a on-line video as well as a written transcript of that video, without cost to anyone, to make it as widely available as possible and to avoid even the slightest implication of a profit motive. Our goal is to help end this global crisis as quickly as possible.
4. How do you answer critics who say, “It doesn’t work. It can’t possibly work. There’s no proof that it works, etc. etc. etc.”?
These objections have apparently been raised by individuals who have not tried the procedure themselves, yet are ready to dismiss it out of hand, with no research and no actual testing. The harsher the criticism, usually the less scientific the objection. But, once even a skeptic tests this procedure on nearly any common-cold symptom, objections often melt away just as quickly as the symptoms do. Some objectors appear to have very limited scientific knowledge and training, based on the uninformed content of their objections. Others, however, have advanced degrees in science or medicine and may even hold prominent positions as public health officials.
In listening to several of these interviews with “experts”, what I found most surprising was that interviewers rarely challenged their guests with any substantive follow-up questions about their blanket assertions. When an expert says, “Saunas won’t help with viruses”, my very next question would be, “Really? How do you know?” “How much time have you spent in a sauna while experiencing cold symptoms yourself?” If they have no such experience, then one might ask, “Lacking any personal experience with saunas, on what basis then, do you discount the peer-reviewed scientific studies that show a marked reduction in the frequency and duration of colds, flu and other respiratory infections, by up to 75%, among those who engage in regular sauna bathing? Here is a link one such study: And, here is another:
(Note: Pub Med URL addresses sometimes have difficulty loading properly. Here is the actual article listing, that can be entered (cut and pasted) into a Google search to produce a currently working link):
Ann Med, 22 (4), 225-7 1990
Regular Sauna Bathing and the Incidence of Common Colds
E Ernst 1, E Pecho, P Wirz, T Saradeth
Affiliations expand PMID: 2248758 • DOI: 10.3109/07853899009148930
Link to Complete Cold-Arrest™ Bibliography
For a less technical discussion, the international news agency, Reuters, has written about an overview of many studies associated with sauna use, at the very same air temperatures used by the Procedure (with blow-dryers), and has shared some interesting conclusions. Researchers found a significantly lower risk of pulmonary (respiratory and lung-related) diseases, including asthma, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and flu, in regular sauna bathers. But they also found that risk of death from all causes, including circulatory diseases and even Alzheimer’s Disease was also greatly reduced by up to 40%. So, regular sauna use appears to have a multitude of health benefits that extend far beyond helping to reduce or end viral infections alone. Here’s the Reuters article link:
As frequency and duration of sauna use goes up, the frequency of viral infections goes down, these studies show. There appears to be a similar inverse relationship between higher-temperature exposure and viral infection frequency. The higher the temperature, the lower the frequency of infections – until temperatures exceed about 185°F or 85°C. Above this point, benefits begin to level off, researchers found.
Next, I would ask, “Can you offer ANY scientific studies that back-up your assertion that hot air or sauna use doesn’t help?” To date, none of those who claim that heat treatment is ineffective have offer any scientific proof of their assertion. Perhaps this is because there are numerous studies that demonstrate the heat-sensitivity of common cold-causing viruses, and absolutely no studies showing that these viruses are unaffected by heat. In other words, they offer no proof for their opinions, because such proof does not exist.
I would also ask, “Just out of curiosity, have you checked the current Covid-19 mortality rate in Finland, a country with 5.5 million people and 2.2 million saunas, with 99% of the population engaging in weekly sauna use? Do Finnish doctors, (or the Finnish people) know something that we don’t? Or, is there some other explanation for their shockingly low mortality rate, 75% to 80% lower than in many other western countries, including the US? Their high sauna use and low Covid-19 infection and death rates are certainly interesting. True, correlation does not equal causation. But, has anyone taken the time to evaluate this seemingly striking anomaly?” This Medical Doctor has, (his evaluation of Finland’s stats begins about 20 minutes into his video,)
Everyone, regardless of their background, is entitled to their opinion, of course. However, we must remember that these opinions are not even close to being science, nor can they refute any scientifically established findings, or debunk any theories, no matter how many degrees or titles they may hold. As the late Dr. Carl Sagan observed, “Arguments from authority carry little weight in science. Authorities have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.”
To become settled science, these experts are still required to prove their opinions, theories or guesses, with actual, peer-reviewed testing. They don’t get a free pass, just because they have the right letters after their name. The only way to debunk a theory or an experimental process, such as the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure is by evaluating it with actual unbiased scientific testing, capable of proving or disproving it. Until such testing is done, this experimental procedure remains intact, unchallenged by any current scientific findings.
Einstein’s theory that gravity could bend light was ridiculed and denounced by far more senior physicists for ten years, until an astronomical test done during the total solar eclipse of 1915, by physicists attempting to disprove it, succeeded only in confirming it. Bandler and Grinder also endured harsh criticism for introducing their seemingly outlandish concept of Neuro-Linguistic-Programming, until studies done by some of these same critics, again succeeded only in proving that NLP works. The same scenario was repeated with the original proposals regarding epigenetics (gene expression is not fixed – it can be turned on and off), prions (the ingestion of an aberrant protein can cause a neurological disease – in this case Mad Cow Disease) and helicobacter pylori (a bacteria, is responsible for causing ulcers, not diet or stress). Denunciation of all these unconventional ideas, and hundreds of others, were followed by eventual, wide-scale scientific acceptance. Dr. Sagan’s words have proven to be wise counsel throughout scientific history.
The use of the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure, with either saunas or blow-dryers as the external heat source, has enjoyed a high-success rate with actual users. Those who have purchased the book, “Conquer the Common Cold and Flu” over the past three decades attest to its ability to prevent and reduce the severity and length of cold and flu infections. You can read some of them on the testimonials page.
True, these personal testimonials are what scientists call anecdotal evidence. They are not even close to the equivalent of a randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial, which, to date, has not been completed. But, with trillions of dollars being allocated to fighting this Global Pandemic, might this be a prudent time for health authorities to consider an independent, professionally-conducted test of this simple, zero-cost, self-administered procedure (using saunas, or blow- dryers, or both) that has a very plausible scientific basis? I, for one, would certainly welcome such an impartial, independent scientific study. But, as I have explained earlier, political realities may make such an unbiased study impossible, at this time.
At very least, this is an approach that has been employed by sauna users for thousands of years, and by blow-dryer users for more than 30 years. The results of this collective body of experiential evidence suggests a rather high potential upside and minimal, downside risk. Health Authorities are certainly not above taking other, seemingly far greater risks, such as authorizing the use of unproven drugs on advanced Covid-19 patients, such as the controversial malaria drugs, Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine – with their long list very serious side-effects – especially their acute suppression of the human immune system. Recent FDA emergency provisional approval of remdesivir, also carries considerable risks. The most common adverse effects in studies of remdesivir for COVID-19 include respiratory failure and blood biomarkers of organ impairment, including low albumin, low potassium, low count of red blood cells, low count of platelets that help with clotting, and yellow discoloration of the skin.[7] Other reported side effects include gastrointestinal distress, elevated transaminase levels in the blood (liver enzymes), and infusion site reactions.
Personally, after 35 years of using this Procedure myself, combined with the collective experience of family, friends, and thousands of readers from around the world who have enjoyed high levels of success with this technique, my confidence in this Procedure is quite unshakable, at this point Will such a procedure ever gain eventual, wide-scale acceptance? This is difficult to predict.
But, what may place the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure in a class by itself, is that unlike most of the other past controversial scientific proposals that we’ve cited, this particular proposal (hot air inhalation may help to prevent, slow or perhaps even reverse upper-respiratory viral infection in its early stages) can be tested by anyone, without the need for years of post-graduate education, advanced technical expertise, and millions of dollars-worth of specialized high-tech equipment. All you need is a safe and reliable external heat source (a sauna or a hair dryer), one or more common-cold symptoms, and the willingness and curiosity to test the procedure yourself. There is no need to wait for an official endorsement or approval, or even permission…from anyone.
The downside, if it doesn’t work, is that you will have wasted a few minutes of your time each day, as many of us stay at home under lock-down. The upside? We might potentially prevent a Covid-19 infection in ourselves and our family members and thereby perhaps slow the spread of the infection community-wide, nationwide, and even worldwide. If you find this risk-benefit ratio to be acceptable, then perhaps the free, Cold-Arrest™ Procedure is worth trying.
Even the side-effects of this procedure are interesting. The fear, anxiety, and stress that most of us, and especially healthcare and front-line workers, are experiencing is quickly replaced by the side-effect of hope. Feelings of helplessness are transformed into the satisfaction of positive pro-action. Another side-effect, mood elevation and a greater sense of well-being, also develops (as cited in several sauna studies). And, all these positive side-effects are known to strengthen the human immune system, helping it to fight off infection even more effectively. These many benefits themselves also tend to become infectious, as others around you see and hear about your encouraging results and begin to take similar, proactive steps themselves. This is a win-win scenario for everyone.
5. In the CAUTIONS paragraph, that precedes the links to your videos, you specifically mention that STEAM is NOT one of the heat sources you suggest. Why is that? What’s wrong with steam?
Heating the sinuses with an external source of steam can be soothing to the sinuses as well as providing its own built-in moisturizing effect – IF IT CAN BE DONE SAFELY. While most households have at least one safe source of external heat, a hair or blow dryer, relatively few have a safe source of steam. When first produced by boiling water, at 100° C or 212° F, steam is certainly able to scald the skin. Makeshift attempts to produce steam at home were the only source of injuries we encountered decades ago when we first began testing the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure with at-home volunteers.
The Hippocratic Oath begins with the phrase, “First, do no harm”. This should be a primary consideration for anyone who is trying to help others to live more healthful lives. If you own a device, such as a facial sauna, that has been designed to deliver steam to the face and nose safely, there is certainly no problem in using such a device as directed by the manufacturer. Or, if you have access to a personal or public commercial steam bath, this is another external source of heat that is likely to be safe. But, in nearly all other situations, the potential risk of injury from using homemade steam may be high enough to remove these alternatives from practical consideration.
Steam inhalation has another obvious drawback. It is nearly always done at temperatures far too low to kill any upper respiratory viruses. The steam rising from a warm bowl of water, for example, may be soothing, but little more. According to researchers, the air temperature must reach more than 56° C or 133° F to completely kill the SARS-CoV coronavirus, and other coronaviruses whose kill temperatures have been accurately determined in vitro (in actual laboratory testing), thus far. And, temperatures must reach to at least 35° C or 95° F to even begin to kill these types of virus. The common blow dryer may be the only readily available household device that can deliver this dry air temperature safely and reliably.
The final challenge with the use of steam as a heat therapy is that we don’t have data on the exact steam temperature that will kill viruses effectively. All the extant laboratory studies report only dry air temperature results. Steam can clearly deliver far more calories of heat than an equal volume of dry air can. Thus, our steam tolerance levels are far lower than those for dry air. The typical public steam bath temperature is 110° F in America, while the typical temperature for public saunas ranges from 150° to 175°. (If you’re from Scandinavia, you may laugh at these low temperatures. Yes, we’re wimps over here. Your lowest typical sauna temperatures begin well above where our highest typical sauna temperatures end , and climb upward from there – 180° to 200°F or 82° to 92°C.)
Are viruses likely to share our lower steam temperature tolerance? Yes – this is a function of physics, not intellectual preference. So, if you have access to a safe steam source that seems to be effectively reducing or stopping your cold symptoms, then, by all means, continue to use it. Commercially manufactured facial and nose sauna machines, are examples of these. But, since we lack precise scientific figures on the exact steam temperatures required to kill virus, and because of their continued wide availability, we will continue to only suggest the use of dry air external heat sources for now. I’ve recently noticed that on-line ads for facial saunas are marked as SOLD OUT. However, hair-dryers continue to be available online and even on the shelves of large supermarkets, that can still be visited by citizens in countries and states or provinces under official lock-down.
6. Might temperatures as high as those you are discussing, up to 175°F or 80°C, be dangerous? Some people are saying that air at this temperature will damage your nasal mucosa, or (my personal LOL favorite) “burn your face off”. How can this be safe?
Apparently, health authorities around the world do not share this concern and consider these temperatures to be completely safe. We know this, because public saunas, used by millions of people each day, throughout the developed world are openly permitted to operate within, or even above, this temperature range. Concern over elevated temperatures does begin to develop at levels above the boiling point of water: 212°F or 100°C. Sauna temperatures used in the World Sauna Championships, start (yes, I said start), at 230°F or 110°C and go up from there. The Finnish Sauna Society, for one, has voiced strong objection to holding these competitions, in view of the occasional injuries that have occurred, with a few contestants, at temperatures above 250° F or 120°C for extended periods of time. Normal public sauna temperatures are more than enough to safely kill most early-stage viral infections in minutes.
7. Blow Dryers vs. Saunas – which is better for preventing, slowing down or stopping viral, upper-respiratory infections?
Each have distinct advantages. For home use, the regular use of a dry or infrared sauna, or even a steam bath, offers the longest list of scientifically documented health benefits. Frequent sauna use, 4-7 times per week, has been shown to fortify the immune system, improve and strengthen heart and cardiovascular function, reduce atherosclerosis (plaque build-up in veins and arteries), increase circulation throughout the body, enhance upper and lower respiratory function and resilience, reduce incidence of pulmonary (lung) disease and infection, as well as reducing the rate of death from all other causes. Here, are links to studies confirming this. Mayo Clinic Study: Annals of Medicine Study:
Link to Complete Cold-Arrest™ Bibliography
However, saunas are less widely available outside Scandinavia, and especially Finland. They also come with a list cautions, and are not recommended in persons with certain underlying medical conditions, high blood pressure, the presence of fever, while consuming alcohol, etc. All these precautions and contraindications should be followed. During the current global pandemic, most public saunas are closed in compliance with rules regarding social distancing. Saunas are also considerably less portable. While I regularly use a small infrared sauna at home, I always carry a small, portable blow-dryer when traveling – so that I can administer the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure whenever needed.
The portability of blow dryers make them ideally useful in many situations. They are almost always available and can be taken virtually anywhere. When watching the home-made videos recorded by passengers who were quarantined on various cruise ships, I couldn’t help but notice the built-in hair-dryers on the bathroom walls of many of the ship’s staterooms. They are also built-in to many hotel and motel bathrooms world wide – with GFCI ground-fault protection.
Unlike saunas, blow dryers can also be used even in the presence of a mild fever – since you are primarily heating just your sinuses and only for a very short time, just 5 to 10 minutes at most. Because the rest of your body is not substantially affected, there is little risk to organs that might otherwise be injured by higher, more prolonged heat exposure. Also, in most other medical traditions, in contrast to the more common allopathic (MD or DO) viewpoint, fevers, of no higher than 102° F or 39°C are considered beneficial to the immune system’s infection eradication process. Blow dryer use, is this instance, may prove enhance the body’s natural temperature-elevating response, if not overdone.
Perhaps the most important potential benefit of blow-dryers is their special value for healthcare workers, food market clerks, food delivery workers, and any others whose job places them on the front line of face-to-face human contact. People in these high-risk/high-exposure jobs have the opportunity to use a Cold-Arrest™ treatment during one or more of their breaks throughout the day. Even more important, they have the opportunity to use the procedure at the end of the day’s shift, before returning home, to offer yet another layer of potential protection to their families as well as themselves.
Which works best for potentially killing virus and stopping symptoms? Our own research shows a roughly equal benefit, for either approach, when used as directed. The suggested (experimental) therapy is, one 20-minute sauna session per day or two 5-minute+ blow-dryer treatments per day, for prevention. If symptoms are present, two 20-minute sauna sessions – with a cooling-off period of 40 minutes, or until temperature and heart rate return to normal levels. Using a blow-dryer, with symptoms, five 5-minute+ sessions, one session per hour for five hours is suggested.
Are the somewhat shorter 5-minute blow-dryer sessions really long enough to kill viruses? The 5-minute+ session-length is a suggested starting length. Many users report significant symptom reduction with sessions of this length. Suggesting a longer session length, at first, may be off-putting to first-time users. But, as experience with the procedure increases, many users find that they get faster symptom reduction when they spend a little more time with each session.
Are there any techniques that can enhance the effect of the therapy sessions using either method? Yes, there are several.
First, breathing in through the nose while breathing out through the mouth, tends to raise sinus temperatures higher, faster. This is because air flowing into the sinuses is coming directly from the external hot air source. But, air flowing out through the sinuses is coming from the lungs, where the relative temperature is considerably cooler than the temperature just outside the nostrils (during a therapy session). By, breathing out through the mouth instead of the nose, the sinuses stay warmer, because they are not being cooled by the cooler air from the lungs.
Second, drinking a very warm beverage during the therapy session, sipping it in-between breaths can help to raise the temperature of the mouth, throat, and palate, that adjoins the the two maxillary sinuses (the ones immediately above the teeth near the roof of the mouth). This additional heat is detrimental to viral survival.
Third, infrared saunas offer a unique benefit. While their air temperature is often 30° to 40° F or 17° to 22° cooler than a traditional dry sauna, their infrared panels radiate heat that penetrates skin, muscle and bone tissue, elevating internal temperatures even more. By leaning your head closer to one of these infrared panels, getting as close as possible without causing discomfort, you can inhale air temperatures as high as those produced by a blow dryer at as-close-as-you-can-comfortably-tolerate distances. But, you get the added, benefit of the penetrating infrared heat that elevates sinus temperatures to an even higher level than is possible with other methods.
8. I’ve heard that it is impossible to raise the temperature inside the body by more than a few degrees – not enough to kill viruses. So, how can this procedure work?
While is true that human core temperature is difficult (and perhaps not even desirable) to raise our body’s core temperature by more than a few degrees, even when sitting in a hot sauna for 20 minutes, the goal of the Cold-Arrest™ Procedure is primarily to raise sinus temperatures substantially. And, because of their close proximity to the nostrils and the outside air supply, this can be accomplished easily and safely, as we have already discussed.
You can prove to yourself that it is indeed possible to modify internal sinuses temperature this way by performing this simple test. Take a deep rapid internal breath while sitting in a room at room temperature. You will temporarily lower the temperature of your sinuses, and the back of your throat, which the air hits just after flowing through your sinuses. As a result, you will feel a noticeable blast of coolness just above and behind your tongue. When you do this, your sinuses are getting even cooler, because of their closer proximity to the cool air source. But, most people can’t feel this increased coolness because there are far fewer temperature-sensing nerve endings within the sinuses. This cooling effect is significant enough that, when taking one’s temperature orally, the thermometer bulb must be placed under the tongue, not above it. This is because the mere act of breathing lowers the temperature of the oral cavity, above the tongue, substantially skewing the thermometer temperature reading to a lower value. When in a sauna, or when using a blow dryer, the warm air you inhale is warm enough that you can also sense this considerably higher temperature difference on the back of your throat when taking a strong breath through your nose. Within the sinuses, much nearer to the nostrils and the surrounding hot air, the temperature differential is considerably greater.
Of course, the real proof is in the results. As invading viruses within your sinuses are killed (deactivated) by the hot air you inhale, symptoms diminish, and then stop entirely – convincingly demonstrating that sinus temperatures can be raised sufficiently to become a lethal environment for viruses. So, why wait when you can “Stop COVID-19 Now“.