| Wim Hof | |
| Birth Date: | 20 April 1959 |
| Birth Place: | Sittard, Netherlands |
| Occupation: | Extreme athlete and motivational speaker, former Karateka |
| Other Names: | The Iceman |
Wim Hof (in Dutch; Flemish pronounced as /ʋɪm ɦɔf/; born 20 April 1959), also known as The Iceman, is a Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete noted for his ability to withstand low temperatures.[1] He previously held a Guinness World Record for swimming under ice and prolonged full-body contact with ice, and he holds a record for a barefoot half marathon on ice and snow. He attributes these feats to his Wim Hof Method[2] (WHM), a combination of frequent cold exposure, breathing techniques and meditation. Hof's method has been the subject of several scientific studies, with mixed results.
Wim Hof was born on 20 April 1959 in Sittard, Limburg, Netherlands. He was one of nine children. Hof met his first wife Marivelle-Maria, also called "Olaya Rosino Fernandez", in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam in the garden of roses. She died by suicide in 1995 by jumping from an eight-story building. According to Hof, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He had a hard time psychologically with that incident and the freezing water was the only place he didn't think about it. [3] Wim Hof’s first relevant experiences with the cold goes back to when he was 17: he felt a sudden urge to jump into the freezing cold water of the Beatrixpark canal.[4] The first relevant scientific investigation began in 2011 at Radboud University.[5] On 19 April 2011, the results of this study were broadcast on Dutch national television.[6]
Hof markets a regimen called the Wim Hof Method (WHM), which involves willpower, exposure to cold water, and breathing techniques.[7] Wim Hof's method seems to be inspired by thousands-year-old technique where the Indian Saints used to practice Yoga and Meditation in the Himalayas under extreme cold weather.[8] While Hof claims his method has beneficial effects on various conditions, there is little scientific basis for these claims.[9] Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt, a scientist who has studied Hof, said: "[Hof's] scientific vocabulary is galimatias. With conviction, he mixes in a non-sensical way scientific terms as irrefutable evidence."[10] Wim's identical twin brother Andre has a similar tolerance for cold, despite living a different lifestyle, suggesting that much if not all of Hof's abilities are innate.[11] A 2024 meta-analysis of eight studies found that the method may reduce inflammation, through the increase of epinephrine. However, effects on exercise performance and respiratory parameters were mixed. And most of the articles were judged as "high concern due to the difficulty in blinding the participants and researchers to the intervention." The authors cautioned that "the quality of the studies is very low, meaning that all the results must be interpreted with caution. Additionally, the low sample size (15–48 individuals per study) and large proportion of males in the studies (86.4%) make the results non-generalizable to the public," and suggested that further research is needed.[12]
Concerning cold exposure, The American Heart Association and the British Heart Foundation have issued warnings about cold therapy, advising consulting with a physician before attempting, and noting that there is poor evidence supporting the practice.[13] [14] As of March 2024 there are 32 reports of people allegedly dying in relation to the Wim Hof Method.[15] According to one expert, immersion in cold water can produce cardiac arrhythmia in 1 to 3 percent of young healthy subjects, but up to 63 per cent will suffer arryhthmia when asked to hold their breath before the plunge. “It’s an incredible way of reproducing cardiac arrhythmias in otherwise fit and healthy individuals,” he said.[16]
Four practitioners drowned in 2015 and 2016, and relatives suspected the breathing exercises were to blame.[17] [18] In 2021, a Singaporean man drowned in a condominium pool when attempting the method.[19] One person died after cold water therapy session in the UK in 2022.[20] A $67 million lawsuit was filed against Innerfire and Wim Hof in 2022 that alleged 17-year-old Madelyn Rose Metzger died after performing the Wim Hof Method in her pool in Long Beach, California. Wim Hof was acquitted in 2024.[21]
Some experts say that practicing Wim Hof method is "Gambling with your life".[22]
Wim Hof has claimed to have attained 26 world records,[23] [24] but he has held only three different records. The higher numbers that are reported can be attributed mainly to breaking the record ''Full-body contact with ice'' 15 times, often by beating his own previous record.[25]
The fastest half-marathon run while barefoot on ice or snow is 2 hr 16 min 34 sec by Hof near Oulu, Finland, on 26 January 2007. Done for the Discovery Channel program Real Super-humans and the Quest for the Future Fantastic, this is the only current Guinness record in Hof's name.[26]
On 16 March 2000, Hof set the Guinness World Record for farthest swim under ice on his second attempt, with a distance of 57.51NaN1.[27] Hof's first attempt the day before failed when he began his swim without goggles and his corneas froze solid and blinded him. A rescue diver pulled him to the surface after he passed out.[28] The record has been broken several times since and now stands at 265feet as of 2022.[29]
Hof has set the world record for longest time in direct, full-body contact with ice, 44 minutes in January 2010.[30] Hof's record has been broken several times and as of 2023 it stands at 4 hours, 2 minutes.[31]
In 2007, Hof climbed to an altitude of on Mount Everest wearing nothing but shorts and shoes, but aborted the attempt due to a recurring foot injury. He managed to climb from base camp to about wearing just shorts and sandals, but after that he wore boots, saying he needed to affix crampons at that point.[32]
In 2016, Hof reached Gilman's Point on Mount Kilimanjaro with journalist Scott Carney in 28 hours, an event later documented in the book What Doesn't Kill Us.[33]
A number of documentary films have been produced on Hof's life and ability. In 2017, Vice magazine produced a documentary The Super Human World of Wim Hof: The Iceman.[34] In 2020, the YouTube channel Yes Theory published a short film about their experiences with Hof, titled Becoming Superhuman with Ice Man.[35]