One of London’s most popular new therapies, IHHT, promises to improve mental clarity and boost overall recovery in an hour. It’s a bold claim, so our editor visited Vivamayr to sort fact from fiction.
According to market Consegic Business Intelligence, the biohacking market was worth $2.5bn (£1.85bn) in 2024. By 2033, it’s projected to have risen to $9.8bn (£7.3bn). Longevity and wellness are two buzzwords at the heart of the current health movement — which for many of us has become a state of mind, with ripples from the pandemic causing a new-found thirst for optimising our bodies, our mental states, our spirits.
For most of us, this means investing in wearable technology, prioritising muscle strength, ensuring sleep is restorative and keeping hydrated. But for others, wellness routines can involve regular visits to specialist clinics, lured there by news of the latest high-tech treatment promising to help them achieve impressive longevity. But do these therapies actually work? As a wellness editor, I couldn’t help but put one to the test.
Read more: What is the viral Viking Method, and does it work for women?
What is IHHT?
When London’s Vivamayr clinic brought a new, ‘transformational’ therapy to my attention, I was intrigued. According to the clinic, IHHT (intermittent hypoxia-hyperoxia therapy) involves using varying oxygen levels — delivered through a mask — to mimic high-altitude training.
The clinic’s website describes the treatment as designed to enhance oxygen utilisation, help patients to overcome fatigue, recover faster after exercise and boost the immune system. For those eager to get into the specifics, the treatment promotes the regeneration of cells — namely mitochondria — causing higher-capacity cells to be made.
Does IHHT work?
Before I begin my treatment, I have a 30-minute consultation with Dr Ezgi at Vivamayr. The treatment itself only takes 40-45 minutes, during which time I’m asked to recline on a therapy bed as the practitioner fits me with a mask and attaches a heart-rate monitor. As I breathe in and out — alternating between several minutes of low and high oxygen — a sense of fatigue settles in— breathing becomes deeper, more laborious.
It’s a unique sensation — like I’m climbing, without moving a muscle. In some ways, it feels like I’m in a dream. With regular sessions, I’m told, my body will adapt and this feeling will eventually dissipate, proving that my fitness and resilience is being enhanced.
It’s hard to say whether the therapy worked or not, because the whole point is that you’re meant to have multiple sessions a week in order to gain maximum benefits. What I can tell you, however, is that my sleep was excellent that night.
Read more: The wellness products on our radar this year — from wearable stress tech to hair growth devices
Who does this treatment benefit?
For avid marathon runners, fitness fanatics and those keen to optimise their bodies to maximum capacity, IHHT is a solid choice. Even from my singular experience, I can see how this treatment works to build performance, strength and energy. I left the clinic feeling better, boosted and brighter — as though I held a key to a secret no one else on the streets of London was privy to. As I recount it now, I’m brought back to the same sensation I had walking out of the clinic — that I’d just summited a mountain on an ordinary Wednesday. It’s a feeling, I think, worth holding your breath for.
How to book
IHHT treatment is available from Monday to Wednesday at Vivamayr clinic in Mayfair. vivamayr.com
Feature image: Anna Evdokimou
