Doctor Dissects the Wim Hof Method - Cold Hard Science Analysis

What Hacker News said

Recommends mettamage · 2020-05 · on “Breathing habits are related to physical and mental health”

There is already a lot of research. I have some comments about it in my whole HN history for if you're truly curious. Go to Google Scholar and look it up. I just re-edited my whole thing (behind a laptop now). For other HN people I did mention pre-edit: "Wim is crazy. The people studying him aren’t." Enough research has been done, as far as I'm concerned it's a case closed. The WHM does things that we couldn't do before (e.g. be more resistant against the cold). Now we can, more research is needed to fully understand it. For people who dismiss it, they simply haven't taken the time to watch some doctor explain it on YouTube in-depth. And I get that, but then don't say it's BS, simply say you

Recommends skosch · 2020-10 · on “Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges”

I haven't listened to them but can recommend the Medlife Crisis episode [0], in which he reviews the scientific literature around the effects of cold exposure, blood oxygenation/acidity from hyper-/hypoventilation, and related topics. He comes to the conclusion that Wim Hof is likely a genetic outlier, but that breathing techniques can have real physiological effects on things like pain perception, and that cold exposure likely has a bunch of real benefits – but also that placebo may play a big role (which is nevertheless a very real effect). [0] [this video] (timestamped to the conclusions)

Recommends mettamage · 2020-10 · on “Wim Hof’s teachings about breath work and the health benefits of cold plunges”

I'm sorry Rubatuga, I flagged you. To be fair: I'm not having the best of days, so I might be a bit quicker to flag, but I find this behavior on HN unacceptable. You make an overgeneralized claim ("this is all ") and give no evidence. There is an extreme amount of evidence on the contrary that the WHM has a lot of novel scientific elements to it. See [1] as an example. Medlife crisis also did a good nuanced video on it [2]. [1] [LINK] [2] [this video]

Recommends mettamage · 2022-02 · on “Can you warm yourself with your mind?”

Disclaimer: I've met Wim and was one of his guinea pigs in this experiment [2]. The best proof I have for that is that I've claimed this for years on HN ;-) We trained for 4 days in Poland. The hardest challenge I did was climbing up a mountain in my shorts + shoes + socks for 2.5 hours at -7 degrees. I did not have frostbite in the end, none of us did. We did the Harlem Shake (that was a thing back then). I also asked a ton of questions to the researchers back then. From what I've read, g-tummo is very likely not the Wim Hof Method. I've never trained with a monk claiming to know g-tummo. The son of Wim Hof loudly told me "The Wim Hof Method is not Tummo!" (almost a direct quote from memory

Recommends tarsinge · 2022-04 · on “5-min breathing workout lowers blood pressure as much as exercise, drugs (2021)”

The article is about IMST, which is strictly about muscle strengthening. This is maybe a side effect of the Wim Hoff Method, but the WHM also has other purposes because the main mechanism is hyper ventilation and breath holding. Here is good medical explanation of what happens when practicing the WMH (by a medical professional): [this video] (summary at 33:46).

Cites erentz · 2019-11 · on “Meditation reduced an opioid dose needed to ease chronic pain by 75%”

Wim Hof is not a normal human, it’s not clear that there is anything about his “method” so much as that he has remarkable physiology. [this video]

Cites throwaway9d0291 · 2020-07 · on “One hour of slow breathing changed my life”

The YouTube channel Medlife Crisis, run by a practicing cardiologist in the UK, did a fairly long video reviewing the Wim Hof method and the science surrounding it: [this video]

Cites mettamage · 2021-05 · on “Ask HN: What book will significantly improve your life if you apply it?”

Not a book but can be learned via YouTube. The Wim Hof Method. Benefit: never feel unhappy because it’s cold ever again. Much less relevant benefit: you can now get free drugs at parties (it produces a lot of adrenaline when you do it, more than peak bungeejumping [1]). Or as a temporary pain killer, but you need to keep doing it. Warning: do your own research [2]. Do not use it while diving (people died). It is not a free diving technique, no matter what anyone says. Train with someone watching you. Also consult your doctor before doing this, erring on the safe side here. Disclaimer: Msc. Computer Science (aka not a doctor). I do know the WHM since 2014 and have done crazy trials with the l