Secrets of the Ice Man: Voluntary control of adrenaline and the effect on the immune system

Wim Hof is a man with extraordinary abilities. In a GQ article that featured the Ice Man, Wim Hof “holds 20 world records ranging from the world’s longest ice bath – 1 hour and 52 minutes and 42 seconds – to his successful attempt to scale Mount Everest wearing nothing but shorts, shoes, and a smile.”

Source: By **Wim Hof and Justin Rosales** – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17445380

This article shows that the Wim Hof method can influence the immune system, which holds a lot of promise for autoimmune diseases.

Kox and colleagues studied young men trained by Wim Hof in the Netherlands and Poland. The participants were in their 20s and healthy, and not taking any medications. [1]

The ten-day training consisted of “third eye meditation,” cold exposure by immersion in cold water, and breathing techniques (cyclic hyperventilation) detailed below.

After the training, six were injected with endotoxin from a bacteria (Escherichia Coli). E Coli is a bacteria that causes severe disease, and the symptoms are from its endotoxin. The endotoxin was used to simulate an infection to assess any difference between the immune response of the trained and untrained (control) groups.

The test was conducted in an intensive care unit, measuring the oxygen, heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. Serial blood tests measured the epinephrine (adrenaline) levels and inflammatory markers.

Among the trained group, epinephrine and interleukin-10 (IL-10) levels increased rapidly after endotoxin injection (194% higher). IL-10 is notable for being an anti-inflammatory mediator and keeps the pro-inflammatory cytokines “in check.”

Epinephrine is also known as adrenaline. The “fight or flight” hormone increases in times of stress and when survival is on the line.

The levels of the pro-inflammatory mediators like the tumor-necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) were lower (TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8 levels 53%, 57%, and 51% lower) in the trained group than in the untrained group.

That explains why the trained group has fewer flu-like symptoms, and their fever and cortisol levels normalized faster than the control group. Cortisol is a hormone produced by the body during stress like infections and trauma. Short-term increases are necessary for survival, but prolonged elevation leads to hypertension and high blood sugar.

Overall, the trained group had a modulated immune response to infection. The dose of the immune response should be “just right” in any condition. Severe or over-response can lead to severe diseases like cytokine storms in COVID-19.

This study shows the iceman technique increases the epinephrine levels and the anti-inflammatory IL-10. This reduces the pro-inflammatory mediators that can make an infection worse. The findings of this study open the possibility that the Wim Hof Method may be useful for autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

In autoimmune diseases, a person’s antibodies and T cells and the rest of the immune system mistakenly identify the “self” cells and organs as “non-self” and thus attack them to produce inflammation.

In another study, the effects of the iceman technique on decreasing cold symptoms of a cold for 48 hours. [2]

The video below is from a man who had Guillan-Barrè syndrome and was told he would be paralyzed for life. He did the Wim Hof Method, and his autoimmune symptoms went away.

The Wim Hof Program

The training program from Wim Hof, the Ice Man, is described below[1]

Meditation, so-called “third eye meditation,” is a form of meditation including visualizations aimed at total relaxation.

Cold Exposure – During the training, subjects voluntarily exposed themselves to cold in several ways:

Standing in the snow barefoot for up to 30 min and lying bare-chested in the snow for 20 min
Daily dipping/swimming in ice-cold water (0–1 °C) for up to several minutes (including complete submersions)
Hiking up a snowy mountain (elevation: 1,590 m) bare-chested, wearing nothing but shorts and shoes at temperatures ranging from –5 to –12 °C (wind chill: –12 to –27 °C).

Breathing techniques consist of two exercises.

In the first exercise, subjects were asked to hyperventilate for an average of 30 breaths. Subsequently, the subjects exhaled and held their breath for ∼2–3 min (“retention phase“). The duration of breath retention was entirely at the discretion of the subject himself. Breath retention was followed by a deep inhalation breath held for 10 s. Subsequently, a new cycle of hyper/hypoventilation began.
The second exercise consisted of deep inhalations and exhalations. Every inhalation and exhalation was followed by breath-holding for 10 s, during which the subject tightened all of their muscles. These two breathing exercises were also performed during the endotoxemia experiments.

An additional element of the training program consisted of strength exercises (e.g., push-ups and yoga balance techniques).

You can view the training video at this LINK.

The Wim Hof Method may be helpful in these times, mainly when the mRNA shots affect the innate immune system in some people.

How I do the Ice Man Method

We are in the deep winter here in New York state. I do the Ice Man method using cold water only during showers. Using a shower head with a hose, I start with the feet, legs, hands, forearms, thighs, and upper arms to gradually get used to the 50°F (12.7°C) water. Then I wash my hair then the torso. Rinsing is easier after getting used to the freezing water.

I do breathing exercises by hyperventilation before going into the shower. Is it cold? You bet it is! But I’m getting used to it.

In a future article, I will present the study that explains how the cold temperature is tolerated and how heat is produced by the body doing the Wim Hof Method.

Warnings

The study was done on young and healthy men. Some people with cardiovascular diseases and certain medications should not do the Wim Hof techniques.

Medications like beta-blockers (metoprolol, atenolol, and bisoprolol, among others) and calcium channel blockers can blunt the adrenaline response. People with cardiovascular diseases like coronary artery disease and hypertension should not expose themselves to cold since the constriction of the arteries can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and elevation of blood pressure.

Talk to your physicians before starting an exercise program.

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References:

Kox M, et al. J, Voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system and attenuation of the innate immune response in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 May 20;111(20):7379-84. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1322174111. Epub 2014 May 5. PMID: 24799686; PMCID: PMC4034215.
Eimonte M, et al. Residual effects of short-term whole-body cold-water immersion on the cytokine profile, white blood cell count, and blood markers of stress. Int J Hyperthermia. 2021;38(1):696-707. doi: 10.1080/02656736.2021.1915504. PMID: 33910456.
Wim Hof Method

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