How Embracing the Cold Can Energize Your Mornings
The surprising science of cold exposure
Rewind a couple of years and scientists at Wayne State University in Michigan are sliding the characteristically cheerful “Iceman” into an fMRI scanner. His long grey hair is loose around his shoulders and he wears a skin-tight black bodysuit, specifically designed to immerse his entire body in a rush of cold or warm water at the researchers’ discretion. He is about to demonstrate his superhuman ability to withstand the cold, and the team want to capture exactly what happens in his body and brain as he does so.
Wim Hof truly had to earn his superhero moniker. In 2000, the Dutch adventurer was training to complete the longest ever swim under ice. During a practice run, his corneas physically froze, leaving him to swim blind as he began to lose consciousness. Just before it was too late, he was rescued by a diver. The next day, Hof set the world record, swimming 57.5 meters in a frozen Finnish lake.
As if this wasn’t enough, Hof has set 16 individual records for the longest time spent directly immersed in ice, run a marathon barefoot through ice and snow at a record speed, and climbed Mt Kilimanjaro and 7000m of Mt Everest wearing nothing but shorts and shoes. He is an evangelist for what he believes to be the invigorating and healing effects of…
