is it based on science?

September 23, 2022

Wim Hof ​​is a Dutchman known worldwide for his rather extreme well-being method. According to its inventor, this experience helps reduce stress and stay healthy thanks to the cold, breathing exercises and there meditation. Is there scientific evidence for these benefits?

Wim Hof ​​is a sixty-year-old Dutchman who door also the nickname ofIceman. Indeed, the latter is famous for the rather extreme method which bears his name, the Wim Hof ​​Method or Wim Hof ​​method in French. Meditation, very specific breathing exercises and long ice baths are, according to the latter, the ideal cocktail to reduce stress and stay healthy. If the sixty-something can spend several hours in bathtubs filled with ice cubes or meditating in shorts in the snow, one can legitimately wonder if such practices are not dangerous for health. Are the benefits of the Wim Hof ​​method based on scientific data?

Cold therapy used by athletes

Cold has been used as a therapeutic treatment for a long time, especially in the professional sports environment. Athletes practice cold treatments to reduce fatigue and pains muscles. Consequently, scientific publications essentially concern profiles of very specific individuals: sports people.

Systematic analysis, which brings together 9 independent studies published between 2005 and 2017, indicates that a therapy by the cold following an effort physical is more effective in relieving muscle pain than a traditional rest period. According to the latter, immersing in water at between 10 and 15 ° C for ten minutes, has an immediate and prolonged positive effect on muscle pain.

A second study comes to the same similar conclusion. Published in Plos One in 2015, the latter became interested in the effects of the cold on physically active men and women. According to his findings, the cold has a beneficial effect on muscle pain up to two days after physical exertion. Beyond four days after exercise, there is no difference with a simple rest time.

A potentially dangerous breathing technique

The second axis of the Wim Hof ​​method is breathing. The Dutchman presents a very particular technique which consists in making 30 to 40 successive breaths in a short period of time, then to hold his breath with the lungs full, then emptied. Breathing this way is not natural, it's called hyperventilation. Gold, hyperventilation syndrome is not to be taken lightly.

The capnia corresponds to the pressure partial CO2 in the blood. During hyperventilation, capnia goes below normal values, we then speak of hypnocapnia (PaCO2).

This can cause effects likeeuphoria and loss of consciousness. Moreover, on his site, Wim Hof ​​warns that his breathing technique can cause loss of control of movements or consciousness.

The Iceman promises that these hyperventilation sessions can, among other things, reduce stress, sleep better or calm the mind. No scientific study describes the beneficial effects of hyperventilation on healthy people. On the contrary, it is a chronic or acute disease which affects 6 to 10% of the population.

Mindfulness and mental strength

Finally, meditation and mindfulness are the last pillar of the Wim Hof ​​method. According to the Dutchman, it is the control of his mind that allows him to stay in a bathtub filled with ice cubes, sometimes more than an hour. In a systematic study published in 2017, a group of researchers has compiled studies exploring the link between mindfulness and chronic pain, depressive syndromes and quality of life. According to this, mindfulness meditation reduces chronic pain and depressive states, but the evidence lacks robustness.

In conclusion, the Wim Hof ​​method is a radical method which can involve significant health risks. If the therapeutic effects of cold on the muscles are proven, other presumed virtues of this experience have no scientific basis. If you are considering trying this method of pain relief, consult your doctor first.

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