VICE
1 HN recommender · recommended in 5 months, 2016–2024
39:43 · 11M views · Jul 16, 2015
A VICE documentary profiling Wim Hof, the Iceman, covering his feats of cold endurance, his breathing and meditation method, and scientific studies of his control over his autonomic and immune systems.
HN mentions it as evidence that the Wim Hof method can be learned and as the documentary that led some to try breathing and cold exposure, while others dispute the claims.
6 comments from Hacker News
Hey man, try some breathing exercises and cold showers if you can - I watched this documentary [LINK] and then the original vice documentary: this video and then tried the breathing: [LINK] and cold showers and they've been helping a lot with inflammation! There are tons of benefits of cold showers, so if you can start doing that, that might already help a lot! Here's a bunch of results you could check out: [LINK]
I'm exclusively showering cold now for more than a year. If I recall correctly one of the reasons was a VICE documentary on Wim Hof - that quite impressed me - though after a while I came to the conclusion that he is mostly well marketed (by his son - who he refers to as the biggest asshole he knows - this video ) and that most claims are rather blown out of proportion. For example his scientific research on suppressing immune response to an infection is sold as a medical revolution while it has absolutely no practical value - if you think about it - quite the opposite as an immune response is usually something rather useful. Anyway - I think it is worth it for several obvious reasons: - it's definitely very refreshing! - it helps waking up a lot - it is a simple way to train discipline - it's less stressful to skin than hot water - it's nice to know that I am not depending on hot water
TLDR; Win Hoff Method (WHM) has been one of the most mysterious things that has allowed people to climb snowy mountains almost naked in middle of the winter. The core interesting aspect of it has been that it can be learned (see, this video ) and therefore the assumption that this is because of some extreme genetics has been overruled. The current research paper has following findings: 1. WHM allows to control pain center of brain at will shutting down the pain response. 2. WHM increases response in brain areas that keep sustained focus in face of adverse conditions. 3. WHM does not cause increased metabolism to keep body warm. 4. The mechanism of keeping body warm seems to be forceful respiration that increases response of fight-or-flee autonomous nervous system increasing glucose consumption in muscles around the lungs.
Can someone clean up the title? "'The Iceman' Wim Hof's family suffered domestic voilence." I noticed that first Vice video Wim had a strange interaction with his son, normalising strange interactions, jokingly calling his son the biggest bastard he'd known. Seemed odd to me. this video
Wim Hof "Iceman" definitely gives me "cult leader" vibes but cool to see this research get published in a very reputable scientific journal. this video