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The Superhuman World of Wim Hof: The Iceman

7 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
1 HN user recommended this documentary1 month2016–2024 score 1
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN mentions it as evidence that the Wim Hof method can be learned and as the documentary that led some to try breathing and cold exposure, while others dispute the claims.

A VICE documentary profiling Wim Hof, the Iceman, covering his feats of cold endurance, his breathing and meditation method, and scientific studies of his control over his autonomic and immune systems.

“tried the breathing: and cold showers and they've been helping a lot with inflammation!” (HN, 2022)

1 recommendations · 3 citations · 2 critical · Documentaries · partly dated

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@justarandombobo Jan 2022 Recommends
on HN thread Search engines and SEO spam
Hey man, try some breathing exercises and cold showers if you can - I watched this documentary [link] and then the original vice documentary: [this video] and then tried the breathing: [link] and cold showers and they've been helping a lot with inflammation! There are tons of benefits of cold showers, so if you can start doing that, that might already help a lot! Here's a bunch of results you could check out: [link]
Documentary that led commenter to breathing and cold showers for inflammation.

Citations, criticism and jokes

@sytelus Dec 2018 Cites it
on HN thread A study on the willful regulation of autonomic function during cold exposure
Read more
TLDR; Win Hoff Method (WHM) has been one of the most mysterious things that has allowed people to climb snowy mountains almost naked in middle of the winter. The core interesting aspect of it has been that it can be learned (see, [this video] ) and therefore the assumption that this is because of some extreme genetics has been overruled. The current research paper has following findings: 1. WHM allows to control pain center of brain at will shutting down the pain response. 2. WHM increases response in brain areas that keep sustained focus in face of adverse conditions. 3. WHM does not cause increased metabolism to keep body warm. 4. The mechanism of keeping body warm seems to be forceful respiration that increases response of fight-or-flee autonomous nervous system increasing glucose consumption in muscles around the lungs.
Shows the Wim Hof method can be learned.
@blubb-fish May 2016 Pushes back
on HN thread What cold showers and exercise have in common (2014)
Read more
I'm exclusively showering cold now for more than a year. If I recall correctly one of the reasons was a VICE documentary on Wim Hof - that quite impressed me - though after a while I came to the conclusion that he is mostly well marketed (by his son - who he refers to as the biggest asshole he knows - [this video] ) and that most claims are rather blown out of proportion. For example his scientific research on suppressing immune response to an infection is sold as a medical revolution while it has absolutely no practical value - if you think about it - quite the opposite as an immune response is usually something rather useful. Anyway - I think it is worth it for several obvious reasons: - it's definitely very refreshing! - it helps waking up a lot - it is a simple way to train discipline - it's less stressful to skin than hot water - it's nice to know that I am not depending on hot water

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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