Wim Hof: Ice Ice, Maybe? Doctor examines

Medlife Crisis, June 27, 2019; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Doctor Dissects the Wim Hof Method: Cold Hard Scientific Analysis

How to burn off the fat with cold, breathing

I'm a cardiologist and academic, and this is an overly detailed look at the Wim Hof Method. (Wim Hof is a Westerner who uses yogic techniques to achieve the previously impossible, enduring cold by modifying his breathing using pranayama).

For those who might ask... Yes, I've tried the technique, quite extensively. But I haven't shared those experiences, as they're not relevant to an attempt at an unbiased scientific appraisal.

"If It Ducks Like a Quack" is a series where I seek to find the truth (if any) behind high profile medical claims, while attempting to teach critical analysis of scientific statistics.

Thank you to Scott Carney. If you enjoy this channel, you'll love his audio-book: scottcarney.com/audible (youtube.com/user/sgcarney).

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Get one no-obligation month of unlimited CuriosityStream (at curiositystream.com/medlife) using the promo code medlife. Go take a look at the rest of the Human Limits series.

Music: "The Dark Glow of the Mountains" by Chris Zabriskie, "Fly Inverted Past a Jenny" by Chris Zabriskie, "Take Off" and "Shoot a Zero" by Chris Zabriskie, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. 

REFERENCES

• Neurocognitive and Somatic Components of Temperature Increases during g-Tummo Meditation: Legend and Reality ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... 
• Voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system and attenuation of the innate immune response in humans pnas.org/content/111/20/7... 
• The role of outcome expectancies for a training program consisting of meditation, breathing exercises, and cold exposure on the response to endotoxin administration: a proof-of-principle study Frequent Extreme Cold Exposure and Brown Fat and Cold-Induced Thermogenesis: A Study in a Monozygotic Twin ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... 
• The Influence of Concentration/Meditation on Autonomic Nervous System Activity and the Innate Immune Response: A Case Study wimhofmethod.com/uploads/... 
• “Brain over body”–A study on the willful regulation of autonomic function during cold exposure sciencedirect.com/science... 
• The role of outcome expectancies for a training program consisting of meditation, breathing exercises, and cold exposure on the response to endotoxin administration: a proof-of-principle study ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... 
• Evolution from four mental states to the highest state of consciousness: A neurophysiological basis of meditation as defined in yoga texts linkinghub.elsevier.com/retri... theconversation.com/brain-ove... 
• Brown adipose tissue ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... 
• Kirsi, A., Virtanen, M. D., Lidel, M. E., Orava, J., Heglind, M., Westergren, R., Niemi, T., Taittonen, M., Laine, J., Savisto, N. J., Enerbäck, S.,& Nuutila, P. (2009). Functional brown adipose tissue in healthy adults. The New England Journal of Medicine, 360, 1518-1525 Controlled Hyperventilation After Training May Accelerate Altitude Acclimatization [Letter] wimhofmethod.com/uploads/... 
• Effect of two breathing exercises (Buteyko and pranayama) in asthma: a randomised controlled trial. thorax.bmj.com/content/58/8/6... 
• Buteyko breathing techniques in asthma: a blinded randomised controlled trial. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9... 
• Buteyko Breathing Technique for asthma: an effective intervention. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1... 
• A randomised controlled trial of the Buteyko technique as an adjunct to conventional management of asthma. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...