Most people try to avoid the cold, but Wim Hof is different. Hof, known as “Iceman” to his 3 million YouTube subscribers, gets cold so often that he goes into the freezer he keeps in his backyard every day.
“The first time I went into the cold, I was like, ‘This is it.’ Just being present, just being clear, and that gave me this wonderful euphoric feeling of feeling instead of thinking,” Hoff told CNBC Make It.
“Then I came back and felt the same way. And since I started doing this, I’ve realized who I am and who I am.”
For more than a decade, Hoff has studied the effects of cold exposure therapy on various aspects of mental and physical health.
“Using three pillars, we found a natural way to help people regain control over their mood and impact the disease of inflammation,” Hoff said on “The Goop Lab” with Gwyneth Paltrow.
These three pillars are known as the Wim Hof Method. Here’s how each works and why Hoff recommends incorporating them into your daily life.
Wim Hof’s method can boost mood and immunity, he says.
1. Embrace the cold
“The cold is a great teacher and healer,” Hoff says.
Cold exposure therapy, whether it’s a cold water soak or a cold shower, “triggers the deepest part of your brain to go to work. The deepest part of your brain is all about opioids. It’s all about cannabinoids. It’s your internal pharmacy,” he added.
Normally, activating these areas of the brain can be difficult. “Because we’re always looking for the most comfortable situation,” Hof explains. At first, when exposed to cold, you immediately want to seek warmth, but when you push through that urge, the adrenal axis becomes activated.
“All the opioids and all the cannabinoids are coming into play, and all the adrenaline is coming into play, so suddenly the cold isn’t as aggressive or painful anymore,” Hoff says.
“All the feel-good hormones are also at play, such as dopamine and serotonin. For patients with depression, those are all available at the pharmacy.”
Cold exposure therapy may also have positive effects on the cardiovascular system, Hof explains. When it gets cold, the skin color becomes reddish. This is because “blood flow suddenly flows to surfaces it would never normally go to, and with it comes nutrients,” he says.
“Doing it in the cold is cardiovascular fitness training.”
2. Practice deep breathing
Before engaging in cold exposure therapy, Hoff recommends that followers of his method practice deep breathing. According to his website, he suggests practicing breathing techniques right after you wake up or just before eating, “when your stomach is still empty.”
To perform this exercise, sit or lie down in a comfortable position and wear loose-fitting clothing that does not constrict your body as you exhale. Start by “breathing deeply through your nose or mouth while pushing your stomach outwards. Once your lungs are full, gently exhale through your mouth. Repeat this 30 times, one after the other,” he advises.
On your last breath, hold your breath for as long as possible and release. “Take one deep breath and fully expand your belly again. Hold the breath for 15 seconds and release. This completes one round.”
Hof’s method requires three to four rounds each day.
“When we did this in the hospital under the supervision of doctors and professors who monitored what was happening in the blood, we found that people’s bodies were becoming alkalized. They changed the blood chemistry almost instantly, and that purified the blood chemistry,” Hoff says.
“These breathing exercises help you reset your body and cleanse it of anything that shouldn’t be there.”
3. Develop a resilient mindset
Hof says you can prepare for cold exposure therapy by having the right mindset. He suggests exercising mutual acceptance “from the top down.”
“Interoception (top-down) is about sending intentions, or neural signals, to your body,” Hoff says. Before entering a cold environment, such as an ice room or cold shower, you can use that feeling to “learn to connect with your body and strengthen your body before going into the cold.”
Frequent “self-inflicted acute stressful exercise” like cold exposure therapy can improve mental resilience, he added.
“In other words, if you’re facing stress, that stress doesn’t come to you. When stress is normal for everyday things, you’re different now. You’re intentionally connecting with the stress mechanisms in your body to avoid the stress of everyday life,” Hoff says.
“When you’re stressed, when you’re performing on stage, when you’re sick, you can use your nerve signals (and your body) to direct yourself, but it takes practice. And that practice is done by going out to the cold and doing breathing exercises.”
The science behind the Wim Hof method
In 2014, Hof conducted a small study with researchers at Radboud University, training 12 people to practice the Wim Hof Method. The participants were then voluntarily injected with the E. coli strain, as was another group who had not been trained in this method.
The researchers found that “trained participants had fewer flu-like symptoms and lower levels of pro-inflammatory mediators.” Two years ago, Hof performed the same experiment on his own body and saw similar results.
Another study published last year looked at the effects of following the Wim Hof method on 84 healthy midlife women with symptoms of depression. Participants were divided into two groups. Some people took cold showers and practiced the fast-paced breathing techniques recommended by Hof, while others took warm showers and practiced slow-paced breathing techniques.
According to the paper, by the end of the experiment, “participants in the WHM condition had significantly reduced rumination after daily stressful events compared to the active control group. Both conditions had reduced daily negative affect throughout the intervention and decreased peak cortisol reactivity to in-laboratory stressors following the intervention.”
More research is needed to support the positive effects of cold water therapy on immunity and mood, according to a report from Harvard Health Publishing. Although unrelated to Hof, there is some research showing that swimming in cold water can have mood benefits.
Consult a physician or qualified health professional before attempting cold exposure therapy or other intensive treatments. Dr. Jorge Prutsky, chief of preventive cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told the American Heart Association in 2022 that “we caution against this in anyone with a history of heart disease.”
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