Selective head cooling intervention significantly modulated EEG signals and reduced depression symptoms compared to controls, with exploratory findings suggesting preliminary trends toward benefit in individuals with preexisting anxiety disorders.
The head cooling group showed significantly greater change in relative alpha EEG power after acute head cooling compared to controls.
Both groups experienced reduced depression after the intervention period, but the head cooling group showed significantly greater symptom relief than controls.
An exploratory subgroup analysis revealed descriptive trends regarding the interaction of intervention group and preexisting anxiety diagnosis on treatment-related change of multiple EEG parameters.
The study used a multimodal assessment approach measuring cognitive function, mental health status, and EEG patterns across three time points.
Previous research on head cooling has focused primarily on traumatic brain injury populations, while effects on individuals unaffected by TBI were relatively unknown prior to this study.
This research suggests that wearing a head cooling device for one week may have measurable effects on brain activity and mood in people without brain injuries. The study measured brain electrical activity (EEG), cognitive function, and mental health in participants who either received the head cooling intervention or served as controls. The most notable findings were that people who received head cooling showed larger increases in alpha brain waves — a type of activity linked to relaxed mental states — immediately after treatment, and they also experienced meaningfully greater reductions in depression symptoms over the course of the week compared to the control group. An additional exploratory analysis hinted that people who already had an anxiety diagnosis may have responded differently to the head cooling in terms of their brain activity patterns, though these findings were described as preliminary trends rather than definitive results. The researchers were careful to note the study's feasibility-level design, meaning it was intended to test whether this kind of research is practical and to gather early data, rather than to draw firm conclusions. This research suggests that selective head cooling — a non-invasive, low-risk intervention — could be worth investigating further as a tool for supporting mental health, particularly for depression and possibly anxiety-related conditions. However, because this was a small feasibility study, larger and more rigorous trials would be needed before any conclusions about its effectiveness can be drawn.
Napora Z, McLaughlin M, Griffith O, Cooney L, McNally E, Slobounov S. (2026). Selective head cooling intervention improves mental health markers: A multimodal feasibility study.. Acta psychologica. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106871