A method for cerebral and systemic cooling by circulating a cold liquid through a nasal catheter looped through the patients nasal cavities and around the nasal septum. The nasal catheter is inserted into the patients first nostril, advanced through the nasal cavity, around the nasal septum and out of the patients second nostril. A cold fluid having a temperature between about −20° C. and about 37° C. is flowed though a lumen in the nasal catheter to cool the nasal cavity. The nasal catheter may have one or more flexible balloons mounted on the catheter such that when the catheter is looped around the nasal septum, the balloon(s) are positioned in a portion of the patients first and second nasal cavities. When a cold liquid is circulated through the catheter lumen, the flexible balloons expand to a contact the inner walls of the nasal cavities and provide direct cooling of the nasal cavities.
