The Iceman in China, a comperative study with Chinese Iceman
22/01/2012
I am in to science, results and measurements to prove that we can have control over deeper layers of our physiology
The cardiovascular system for one, connected to the immune system to make it work better. If the cardiovascular system is trained by gradual cold exposure than it feeds the immune system better, thus the white cells are more efficient and therefore respond better to flammatory bodies.
I want to prove that point scientifically by instructing twelve people into my method and show they can influence the immune stem in ten days after they have been subjected to an immunological experiment. If they than show significant difference compared to another non instructed people while subjected to the same immunological experiment. In the meanwhile I go over the world doing my cold endurance experiments for both television and scientists
A couple of years ago after I did a record for ice endurance in Beijing, a Chinese man was found to do the same ice endurance for which I have the record. He than broke my record by standing 1 and a half hour in the ice, as I came to know by international news. I broke it back, and than he broke it back, than I did the same and we went on and on
Two months ago did I broke the record again in New York, directly afterwards I was invited to do a comparative study with the Chinese iceman in Changsha city.
I went with my two sons flying to Beijing and had the domestic flight to Changsha where we were welcomed by two or three tv crews interviewing me directly at the airport. Afterwards we drove to the Hunan tv resort which is huge, palmtrees all over and well accommodated in five star villa’s. That evening/night we also had a good clearance about what was going to happen as it was going to be live. We had come to an understanding, one hour in the ice up to the neck and than water poured into it, icewater for 10 minutes in total.
We would be standing in two separate tanks, monitored by four scientists, all the data, as bloodpressure, heartbeats, coretemperature, time, was well to see on big tv screens. At least, that was told by Nick (Cheng) Yang who works for Hunan television station. It was going to be a comparative study and that is of my direct interest, the lower the heartbeat the better, if there is anything to win than it is when control over cold impact on the body is showed by low percentage of heartbeats.
Check up of the Iceman in the Chinese hospital
The other day I had a check up in the hospital, a thorough check up as they measured the heart, bloodpressure, stresstest, neurological test and so forth, they were very impressed by my low heartbeats par minute, 42. I told them not to worry because a cardiovascular system well trained causes the heart to beat a lot less, simply because the vascular muscle working in the veins helps the bloodflow go through the body which logically helps the heart. It does not need to pump and pressure the bloodflow as the muscles in the veins work together with the heart, this is one of the secret ingredients of the wimhofmethod.
Everything allright than, all set to do the live show. TV channels broadcasted the news of the upcoming show with the European Iceman compared to the Chinese Iceman. The other day I prepared like I always do before a event like this, breathing exercises and meditation, emptying my mind and body of stress.
At six o'clock we were picked up to go to the showsite at a sort of Disney land, TV likes great decors. I had told them of my love for kung fu when I was young and so they had a white kung fu suit with a red ribbon ready, I would do a couple of exercises before going in the ice as to present myself for the Chinese audience. I met the Chinese Iceman who was a bit insecure but okay, so the battle began.
Wired to monitors we both were to show the heartbeat, bloodpressure, saturation and so forth. We had to stay for one hour in the ice and than water was poured for twenty minutes. What I saw (and was showed on tv screens) was that my heartbeats were about twenty less all the time, meaning that my body was working less than his. Concentration does that along the trained cardiovascular condition.
After pouring water my heartbeats became even less, down to seventy/eighty, from ninety to hundred. To me the scientific study had been succesfull and the win was that control over extreme cold impact is done by concentration and a up toned cardiovascular system, they work as one. He stayed a couple of minutes longer in the ice so he won in time (TV likes that), I had never come to win in time length but to have better scientific measurements while staying in the ice. So we both won, and that was felt. Relieve.
We went the same way we came, in four days a lot can happen. Now sitting behind my desk I am into the new steps to be made as the journey to prove that we can influence the immune system is still on, another step was made
Love Wim
The role of Brown adipose with Wim Hof
15/01/2012
An investigation at the university of Maastricht (NUTRIM) in cooperation with the Nuclear medicine department (MUMC)
Brown adipose is being more and more in the news and there are indications that it plays a role in the prevention as well as treatment toward obesity.
But what is Brown adipose? Brown adipose is a sort of fat tissue that, instead of depositing energy like white fat, is capable of energy combustion. In this way heat is produced, instead of obese development.
The heat generated by Brown adipose plays an important role to maintain body temperature in little mammals (par example rodents) and with human babies.
Common belief and thought was that Brown adipose was no longer present in adults, however in 2009 at the university of Maastricht it was showed that Brown fat can be activated by cold exposure (Marken Lichtenbelt 2009 among others). Moreover was showed that people with overweight had no or very little Brown adipose left. this shows the important role of Brown adipose fighting obesity.
We have now measured the Brown adipose of Wim Hof
He has accomplished incredible feat in cold endurance and therefore we think Brown adipose could play an important role in maintaining his body temperature. Besides of that there are indications in scientific literature that the amount of Brown adipose decreases with age. Could Brown adipose play a role in the achievements of Wim when exposing his body in extreme cold conditions?
The experiment
To test the role of Brown adipose Wim has been thoroughly measured at the university of Maastricht for two days. The First day we measured his Brown adipose at room temperature (neutral) and the next day in a cold environment (11 degrees Celsius) for two and a half hours . We have measured the following:
- Brown fat adipose
- Heatproduction while exposed in the cold
- Bodytemperatures
- Heartbeat and bloodpressure
- Skinbloodflow
- Heatproductive capacity oif the muscle
- Bodycomponements (fat, fatfree and bonemass)
Results
While the experiment was ongoing the body can do two things, generate heat and closing the skinbloodflow, or decreasing it.
The way Wim did it was comparable with Young adults (Wim is 52 years). Remarkable was that Wim produces the same amount of Brown adipose and in some cases even more than young adults. An average of 35 % in comparison to the 0 to 20% of youg adults, and at peaks Wim even raised over the 50 % above the normal.
Has Brown adipose been the reason of this enormous heat production while exposed in the cold?
In the PET Scan in thermo neutral conditions we have seen no Brown fat, however in the cold it showed that he had as much as Young adults. Interesting therefore is that Brown adipose partially contributed to effectively generate heat thus we can conclude that cold exposure takes care of maintaining Brown fat.
Conclusions
We can conclude that Wim in cold exposure feat is able to generate heat enormously and that Brown adipose is partially causing this. The other conclusion of that muscle tension and or contraction is responable for the heat production we still do not know as we still could not measure this adequately. Wim’s conviction is that concentration (will and control) are absolutely part of the process to maintain body temperature in extreme cold conditions. Another interesting fact is that people at middle age and older are capable to activate Brown adipose after training in the cold.
References
van Marken Lichtenbelt WD, Vanhommerig JW, Smulders NM, Drossaerts JM, Kemerink GJ, Bouvy ND, Schrauwen P, Teule GJ 2009. Cold activated brown adipose tissue in healthy men. N Engl J Med 360:1500-1508.
The research team:
Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt
Maarten Vosselman
Boris Kingma
Guy Vijgen
Team Nuclear Medicine
Website: www.thermu.eu
Sweden December 2011 Workshop Iceman
28/12/2011
Seven people coming together, many languages but all speaking from the heart, the real communication
They call me the Iceman, but in real I am a wiseman without pretention, yet clear
Wise because I have my path that is paved by the steps from the heart, and that’s the way I begin the week , get to open up to get to know everybody
“”he who walks the paths of security will not fall, yet will not find it’s Soul, cause it lies beyond our thoughts””
I feel insecure to really get to all of the members of this week’s adventure beyond past perceived limits
Fear of cold, pain, insecurity, faded away cause we found ours, resulting in a deep encounter with everybodies fysiology aswell as the mind, evading from the heart
Cold icewater is scrupulous, yet it shows you the direct way to control the inner faculties, naturally
Profound experiences in breathing exercises, strong as steel within the hard cold, like the smith who works within heat, joining steel to steel, we our fysiology
Everybody at the end of the week stayed in the icy waters without losing control whatsoever for times leading toward deep concentration, traces not to be forgotten ever
They lost their fear, became like a bear, back to nature and belief within, candlelight in the evening, discussing the power of the Soul
There is one Soul, past fear in power and consciousness, we got there
Now regular practice as in overcoming the conditioning of a society which lost it’s natural power
I met people, now I have friends who understand “we can do more than thinking alone” we are…
Wim Hof
New York November 2011, New Guinness World Record Iice Endurance/Bryant Park event
22/11/2011
We had a chunk out of the Big Apple, really tasty
Columbia Sportswear invited me to do a Guinness World Record attempt in New York as an anti spokesman in the omni heat campaign
Well organized and surrounded by really nice people we have brought the attempt toward a great success
New Guinness World Record!
One hour and 52 minutes and forty two seconds battle in the ice up to my neck, a great adventure on one square meter
Shaquille O’neal, just a little man was even there to present his new book while I was standing in the ice, big like a rock, gentle like a bird
Than the other day in the Bryant Park sitting on icy blocks posing with all my fans, fathers, mothers, children, youngsters, and more nice people
I felt like Santa Claus when I heard the laughs displayed on the screens at the Columbia stand, technically perfect and a lot of heart
Yes, New York was a success and everything was perfect, I loved it and everybody loved me back
Happy and relieved, we all (the team) achieved professionally and wholeheartedly our goals
Becoming the Iceman
Justin with whom I wrote a book ( www.becomingtheiceman.com) delivered the hard copy of our spiritual and mental effort, great to see him aswell
What can I say more, we had a blast and that is more than work, it is life to the fullest
Love Wim
Workshop Santa Monica
31/10/2011
California a workshop with loose ends
Three days of developing skills and mutual understanding, lot more to come
Such a nonsentimental love with great progress and subsiding ignorance of conditioned minds
People who are truthfully will find the way to their heart, no doubt !
Science moreover will prove we are on the right way to re adopt the old forgotten ways, wisdom of simpleness will return
We had a great three days!
Water , sun, height and fearovercoming, Snow and ice, all the natural ingredients to get to the core of being, inner power
SciFiChannel and nice encounters with good people, gained respect, fact or fake, Fact !
In November New York, a new record and a probable gateway to new challenges
I am looking forward to it
Life is but a dewdrop on a grassleaf, it slips away and is gone forever…
In the meanwhile, let’s hit the road again
Wim
Dessert Run In Namibia “”Iceman goes heat””
25/10/2011
After all the extreme cold endurance exploits of the Iceman in the cold he decided to go the other way around, “”extreme heat on the human body””
Iceman becomes Heatman no, Iceman remains the Iceman but shows that if you can endure in the extreme cold you can endure in extreme heat as well !
After the last marathon in shorts beyond the Polar circle in midwinter he decided he had enough seen in the cold, still doing icy records but simultaneously determined to challenge his physiology in the heat
He had to look for a location and finally came up with the Namibian Dessert the Sossusvlei with the highest dunes of the world and a humidity of less than 5 %, which makes it really dry !
Together with his son Enahm and his old friend Aat den Ouden and the physiologist Thijs Eijsvogels of the UMC St Radboud University they flew to Windhoek (capital of Namibia)
They rented a jeep fully equipped with tents and necessary utensils to go to remote places and drove down to the Namibian Dessert
Dr Thijs Eijsvogels equipped the Iceman with all kinds of measuring devices to control his core temperature, heart frequency, evaporation and more
Enahm handled the camera points and filming, Aat’s expertise was of moral support and advice
Wim began the run with running but as the run progressed his sandals proved to be a very bad for the run in the dessert, his feet suffered from bloody blisters after twenty kilometers which slowed down the pace drastically
The Iceman did not drink any water as that was a part of the experiment and challenge which resulted in dehydration of the extremities
You could see that as the hands thickened and his feet as well, the blisters were nothing more than injuries because of the stamping weight on his dehydrated feet
He succeeded however in completing a full marathon distance without drinking water and thus the experiment was succesfull, aswell as the Iceman’s completion of his challenge
The first step into the heat is completed and gave inspiration to follow up with a new dessert challenge going into more extreme temperatures coming February in South Africa
The Iceman lost 5,2 Litres of water while doing the run in the dessert but maintained core temperature !
A successful first step in the heat by the Iceman
The team had a great time in Namibia, experiment completed, challenge done
Life is challenging, if you challenge life
Do U Mind
13/05/2011
Together with Psychologist professor I led a symposium on the campus of the Tilburg university department Psychology.
Now no psychological debating of how the mind works in relation to the body, facts and stories to prove the workings of a new psycho physiological vision.
Climbing without gear against steep rocks means to go through fear as an inhibition.
Or swimming under ice, running barefoot on ice and hanging by one finger in the sky.
It means going deep within the human physiology, but it is now proven that by scientific measuring it can be done in a lab setting environment, in room temperature.
To live up the challenge of life therefore is to go deep, immune system, cardiovascular system, nervous system and the mind make up the depth of life
Do U Mind (content of the speech) therefore, is consciously connecting all these faculties of ours and not the mind alone.
Because people think it is not possible they just do not go into it, science now has proven in my case that it is possible to go deep, thus connect the mind with the nervous system and the immune system.
The audience liked it very much and directly after the open debate we did a workshop of how to reach the nervous system.
The rest is practice and everybody (mind) own responsibility.
Live life to the fullest!
Wim
Orlando Conference
07/05/2011
Walt Disney, theme parks, nothing but theme parks, and something else.
Arriving in Orlando directly in a summertime feeling because of the tropical temperature, palm trees, exuberance of palm trees in all kinds of species.
We, me and my son, are here to attend in a conference to speak and perform in front of 2000 people doing Qi Qong.
I only have to perform the last day so we have a three days time span to be filled up, and how!
Justin and Jarod (friends of us) came from Pennsylvania to join us, aswel as Ray Cronise (NASA expert together with Scott Parazynski) than Ken Kamler (also a MD) to join forces, talk and cooperate in the future.
Pran (Big friend) invites us to go to a Shangri La place in the subtropical woods of North Central Florida, amidst there was the clearest water in contrary of the marsh waters of Florida coast.
A lot of fun, relieve, guitar play, singing, wondering, pelicans, crocs, manatees, turtles, birds, chipmunks and more.
We took a helicopter ride as real tourists for the first time, amazing experience.
The performance and lecture went absolute fantastic, spontaneous and powerfull, loved the public.
Very fruitful and many positive consequences will arise here from, it was an amazing experience with amazing people.
Simply a sequence of adventures and sudden actions which proved our being in a spiral positiveness, abundance.
Remarkable results in research on “Iceman” Wim Hof
Nijmegen, 19/04/2011
At the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, professor of experimental intensive care medicine dr. Peter Pickkers and his team have performed research on “Iceman” Wim Hof. Hof claims that he can influence his autonomic nervous system and immune response through concentration and meditation. The results obtained are remarkable, however, the investigators emphasize that so far, these results have only been obtained in a single individual. Therefore, they can not serve as scientific evidence for the hypothesis that the autonomic nervous system and the immune response can be influenced through concentration and meditation techniques. Further research with larger groups is warranted.
Research on the immune response
A well-functioning immune system protects us against viruses and bacteria. However, excessive activation of the immune system can cause tissue and organ damage. The immune system is, in part, controlled by the autonomic nervous system, a system which cannot be deliberately influenced. Professor Peter Pickkers and PhD candidate Matthijs Kox investigate the effects of the autonomic nervous system on the immune response. Pickkers: “we administer endotoxin, a dead cell-wall component of bacteria, to healthy volunteers. The immune system reacts as if real live bacteria have entered the body and mounts an immune response characterized by the production of inflammatory mediators and flu-like symptoms like fever, chills and headache. These experiments are completely safe and have been performed on more than 240 subjects in our centre.”
Results obtained in the Iceman
Wim Hof, ‘the Iceman’, is well-known for his remarkable activities in extremely low temperatures. Hof claims that he can influence his autonomic nervous system and thereby suppress his immune response through concentration and meditation. To investigate this, Hof was administered endotoxin while practising his concentration and meditation technique. During this experiment, various measurements were performed, including brain activity, autonomic nervous system activity and inflammatory mediators in the blood. Pickkers: “After endotoxin administration, the increase of the stress hormone cortisol in Hof was much more pronounced compared to other healthy volunteers. We know that this hormone is released in response to increased autonomic nervous system activity and that it suppresses the immune response. In accordance, the levels of inflammatory mediators in Hof’s blood were much lower. On average, Hof’s immune response was decreased by 50 percent compared to other healthy volunteers. In addition, hardly any flu-like symptoms were observed. These results are definitely remarkable. However, so far, they have only been obtained in a single individual and therefore cannot serve as scientific evidence for the hypothesis that the autonomic nervous system and the immune response can be influenced through concentration and meditation techniques. Further research is warranted in which a group of volunteers that have acquired Hof’s concentration and meditation technique is compared to a group that does not master this technique.”
Mr Degawa in Holland
22/03/2011
Degawa is funny, but very intelligent, a professional and nice guy. Mr Degawa gives laughter and emotion for the Japanese audience of twenty million every week, serious matter therefore.
He is challenging the world and therefore undergoing all kinds of hazardous challenges to show the ridiculousness and the matter itself to the audience.
Me and my sun Enahm were preparing a shoot yesterday wherein Mr. Degawa is challenging the Iceman in a icebath contest, which was both very funny and serious!
After we had to flee from the city of Eindhoven from the assembled press and tv we found our location somewhere hidden outside Eindhoven beside a lake. Two bathtubs, one filled with ice and water, the other with hot water
A Fantastic day with the Japanese
One thing, the most revealing was that we had a real and hilarious show more than successfully done. We had given not only what it takes but reached heart of us and the audience.
A fantastic day, and for sure one that will create more days like this with the Japanese. Mr. Degawa told me that I am a samurai; I think all persons who fight for the good cause are warriors of the light. Therefore I salute Mr. Degawa and everybody to win this war.
More lectures are coming, scientific research and a worldwide campaign and more. We are tiredless!!
Wim Hof (Iceman) is actief ambassadeur van Global Warming Awareness.
Wil je ook op hoogte blijven van het laatste nieuws omtrent de Iceman? Meld je dan nu aan voor de nieuwsbrief!
Volg de Iceman op de voet en blijf op de hoogte van het laatste nieuws!
