![]() ![]() Exhale completely and start another cycle at step one. Once the urge to breathe strikes, inhale as deeply as you can into your belly and chest and hold this breath for 15 seconds. Hold your breath until you feel the need to breathe again. After 30-40 breath cycles, inhale once more as deeply as you can and then exhale completely. (This type of breathing exercise may induce lightheadedness so use caution.) Close your eyes and focus on inhaling into your belly and chest then exhaling unforced. Try putting pillows under your legs if your hips feel tight while sitting down. Get yourself into a comfortable position sitting up.The exact steps for each of these practices are described in more detail below. There are three pillars in the Wim Hof Method: breathing, cold therapy, and commitment/mindset. Remember these results have not been scientifically evaluated and may only occur on a case-by-case basis. The answers were compiled into the following categories (Wim Hof Method, n.d.). ![]() In addition to the above scientific research, RMIT University in Australia conducted a survey of over 3,200 Wim Hof Practitioners to determine what the subjective benefits of the practice are. This method provides an exciting new frontier of treatment for people looking for out-of-the-box solutions. ![]() The Wim Hof Method is also currently being studied at two different institutions in the United States to determine the effects it has on brain activity and how it influences mental health and stress. The authors suggest that “these findings warrant full-scale randomized controlled trials of this novel therapeutic approach in patients with inflammatory conditions” (Buijze et al., 2019). To date, the Wim Hof Method has proven to be an effective treatment for arthritis by reducing inflammatory factors related to the disease. This has a multitude of implications for the management of autoimmune diseases and other disorders. While the sample size of both of these studies is small (24 total in each), results do suggest that the Wim Hof Method is an effective way to willfully activate your immune system, an idea previously thought impossible. This claim was also substantiated in a 2020 study which also saw increased autonomic immune response in participants following training on the Wim Hof Method (Zwaag et al., 2020). The study found that the participants who had been trained in the Wim Hof Method were able to activate their innate immune responses while the participants who did not undergo training saw no immune activation (Kox et al., 2014). Immediately following the training, the participants were tested for various markers of immune system activity. One group of participants was trained for ten days on the Wim Hof Method, including breathing techniques and cold exposure, and the control group was not given any training at all. Could others be trained in the Wim Hof Method and see the same results for themselves?Ī small 2014 study tested this exact question. So far we have only discussed the benefits that Wim has been able to achieve for himself, as evidenced by a scientific case study. Now that you understand some history behind the Wim Hof Method, let’s dive into the science behind the method as well as the individual components that make up this practice, which will be discussed in more detail below. The paper concluded that Wim was able to achieve a consciously controlled stress response through his practice which also seemed to activate his innate immune responses (Kox et al., 2012). This is a feat previously believed to be impossible, as the autonomic nervous system controls involuntary bodily functions such as sweating and blood pressure. This case study turned out to be groundbreaking as the researchers were able to show that through concentration and meditation, Wim was able to deliberately activate his autonomic nervous system. These physical achievements lead to a scientific case study about him by an academic research institution. Wim holds several world records for various cold-weather activities such as the longest ice bath and running marathons around the polar circle (Hof, 2015). He developed his method after years of pushing the physiological limits of his body and the perceived limits of his mind through cold exposure and breathing techniques. The Wim Hof Method (WMH) is named after the person who developed it–a man named Wim Hof from the Netherlands. ![]()
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