Most people try to avoid the cold, but not Wim Hof. Known as “The Iceman” to his 3 million subscribers on YouTube, Hof cold plunges often and steps inside of the freezer he keeps in his backyard every day.
“The first time I went into the cold, I felt [like], ‘This is it.’ Just being, just clarity, and that led me [to] a great, euphoric feeling of not thinking, but feeling,” Hof tells CNBC Make It.
“Then I went back in, and I felt the same. And ever since I have been doing it, I know who I am, what I am.”
For over a decade, Hof has studied the effects of cold exposure therapy on different aspects of mental and physical health.
“We found natural ways to get people back in control over their own mood, and to influence their inflammation, which is disease, using three pillars,” Hof said in an episode of “The goop Lab” with Gwyneth Paltrow.
The three pillars are known as The Wim Hof Method. Here’s how each one works, and why Hof recommends incorporating them in your daily routine.
The Wim Hof method can boost your mood and immune system, he says
1. Embrace the cold
“The cold is a great teacher and healer,” Hof says.
Whether it’s a cold plunge or a cold shower, cold exposure therapy triggers “the deepest of the brain [to] go to work, and the deepest of the brain is about the opioids. It’s about the cannabinoids. It’s the pharmacy inside,” he adds.
Normally, it can be difficult to activate those areas of your brain “because we always look for the most comfortable situation,” Hof explains. At first, exposing yourself to the cold will make you want to seek warmth immediately, but when you push through and stick it out, the adrenal axis activates, he says.
“The cold suddenly is no longer aggressive or painful, because all the opioids are working, all the cannabinoids are working. All the adrenaline is working,” Hof says.
“All the feel-good hormones are working too, like dopamine and serotonin, and all that is the pharmacy, in the case of people with depression.”
Cold exposure therapy can also positively impact the cardiovascular system, Hof explains. When you enter the cold, your skin turns a reddish color because “the blood flow suddenly goes to the surface where it normally never goes. With the blood comes the nutrients,” he says.
“It’s a cardiovascular fitness workout to go into the cold.”
2. Engage in deep breathing exercises
Before engaging in cold exposure therapy, Hof encourages followers of his method to practice deep breathing. He suggests engaging in his breathing method right after you wake up or right before a meal, “when your stomach is still empty,” according to his website.
To do the exercises, get into a comfortable position, either sitting or lying down, and wear loose clothing that doesn’t restrict you when you exhale. You should start by inhaling “deeply through your nose or mouth, while pushing your belly outward. When your lungs are full, let your breath go through the mouth without force. Take 30 such breaths, one right after the other,” he advises.
On your last exhale, hold your breath for as long as you can and release: “Draw one giant breath, once again letting your belly expand fully. Hold that breath for 15 seconds, then let go. This completes one round.”
Hof’s method involves doing three to four rounds daily.
“When people did this in the hospital under surveillance of doctors and professors monitoring what was happening in the blood, they saw that people alkalized their bodies. They changed their blood chemistry almost instantly. And with that, the blood chemistry cleansed,” Hof says.
“[By] doing these breathing exercises, you are able to reset your body, to cleanse your body of anything that should not be there.”
3. Develop a resilient mindset
Having the right mindset can help you brace yourself for cold exposure therapy, Hof says. He suggests exercising interoception, “top-down.”
“Interoception [top-down] is sending an intention, a neuro-signal, to your body,” Hof says. Before you enter cold environments like ice rooms or cold showers, you can use the sensation to “learn to connect with your body and to make it strong before you go into the cold.”
Frequently exposing yourself to “self-inflicted, acute, stressful exercise” like cold-exposure therapy can make your mind more resilient, he adds.
“In other words, if you go to the stress, then the stress will not come to you. When the stress in daily matters normally happens, now you are different. You [have] a willful connection with the stress mechanisms in the body to fend off the stress of daily life,” Hof says.
“When you get stressed, when you have a stage performance, when you are getting sick, you are able to direct with your neuro signaling [and] your body, but this needs practice. And that practice is done by [going into] the cold and by [doing] breathing exercises.”
The science behind the Wim Hof Method
In 2014, Hof conducted a small study alongside researchers at Radboud University in which he trained 12 people to practice the Wim Hof Method. Participants were then voluntarily injected with a strain of E. coli, and a separate group who wasn’t trained with the method also received the injection.
Researchers found that “the trained participants showed fewer flu-like symptoms, lower levels of proinflammatory mediators.” Two years prior, Hof did the same experiment on his own body, and saw similar results.
Another study published last year examined the effects of following the Wim Hof Method on 84 healthy women in midlife with symptoms of depression. Participants were placed in two groups: people who took cold showers and practiced the quick-paced breathing techniques that Hof recommends, and those who took warm showers and engaged in slow-paced breathing exercises.
By the end of the experiment, “participants in the WHM condition had significant reductions in rumination after daily stressful events compared to those in the active control group. Both conditions had reduced daily negative affect across the intervention and lower peak cortisol reactivity to the lab stressor post-intervention,” according to the paper.
More research is needed to support the positive effects of cold-water therapy on immunity and mood, according to reporting from Harvard Health Publishing. Though there are some studies, unaffiliated with Hof, that show that swimming in cold water may have benefits on mood.
Before attempting cold exposure therapy or other intensive practices, consult your physician or a qualified health professional. “I would caution against it for anyone with a cardiac history,” Dr. Jorge Plutzky, director of preventive cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told the American Heart Association in 2022.
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