Shafaqna Health: A new study has found that wearing a cooling cap for 30 minutes a day may promote relaxation and improve mood in healthy young adults by increasing brain activity associated with calmness. The findings, published in Acta Psychologica, suggest the technique could become a simple, non-invasive tool for stress management, although researchers caution that more evidence is needed, according to PsyPost.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University examined the effects of selective head cooling in 24 college students over the course of one week. Participants either wore a cooling cap for 30 minutes each day while relaxing in a quiet room with ocean sounds or spent the same amount of time resting without the device.
Brain activity recorded with electroencephalography (EEG) showed that a single cooling session increased alpha brain waves—commonly linked to relaxation—while participants who used the cooling cap also reported a greater reduction in depressive symptoms than those in the control group after one week.
The researchers also observed preliminary evidence that head cooling reduced beta and high-beta brain waves, which are often associated with stress and anxiety, among a small subgroup of participants with generalized anxiety disorder.
Despite the promising findings, the authors emphasize that the study does not demonstrate that head cooling can treat depression or anxiety. The trial involved a small sample of healthy young adults, and participants knew whether they were receiving the cooling intervention, leaving open the possibility of placebo effects.
The researchers say larger, placebo-controlled studies involving more diverse populations are needed to determine whether daily head cooling can provide measurable mental health benefits and to better understand its effects on brain activity and emotional well-being.
Source: PsyPost
