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Doctor Dissects the Wim Hof Method - Cold Hard Science Analysis

Medlife Crisis · 1.8M views · 2019-06-27 · 44:13

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Overview

A cardiologist runs a detailed, skeptical review of the Wim Hof Method, covering the research on cold exposure and breathing techniques. It also teaches how to read scientific statistics critically.

On Hacker News

HN points people to it as a nuanced, medically informed take whenever Wim Hof breathing or cold plunges come up.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 4 months · HN mentions 2019–2022

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What people said

tarsinge · 2022-04 · Recommendation

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): [VIDEO] (summary at 33:46).

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mettamage · 2022-02 · Recommendation

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, probably paraphrased). So I'd argue that back in 2014 or whenever it was, they were of the opinion it was something else. I'd be willing to bet they've never met a g-tummo monk either :) A good medical YT vid on the WHM [1]. From my experiential point of view: the WHM doesn't warm your body, you simply don't get cold, nor do you feel cold (you're too high on adrenaline to have any normal sense of temperature). Sometimes I did feel a warmth boost, but that's not the main "working thing" behind his method. I use it whenever I need an adrenaline boost, or don't want to feel cold. When is it handy or fun to get an adrenaline boost on purpose (my experience)? 1. When you have a headache (free painkiller when nothing is lying around) 2. When you're at a party (no drugs needed, the WHM is a dru

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skosch · 2020-10 · Recommendation

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] [VIDEO] (timestamped to the conclusions)

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