Phase 1: Breathing
Something about breathing in the way Wim Hof instructs, causes our bodies to pump out certain hormones like adrenaline and Nor adrenaline to levels that we don’t normally see in people’s day to day life.
Increases blood pH levels and makes it more alkaline:
Most Carbon dioxide is converted to bicarbonate and Carbonic acid in the blood stream. And breathing deeper than necessary means you exhale a lot of CO2. This is why deep breathing will result in an increase of blood pH. Therefore, your blood becomes less acidic and more alkaline.
Science behind the tingling sensations :
While making your blood alkaline can have some interesting effects when it comes to exercise performance and resisting the cold, Alkalosis can lead to constriction of the brain’s blood vessels and reduced calcium levels, leading to increased Nerve and muscle excitability. This is one of the reasons why you feel tingling sensations when doing the breathing.
Oxygen in the system gets stuck:
Other than the raise in pH, another thing that happens when you exhale so much CO2 is most of your oxygen gets stuck in the blood. This is because CO2 is what releases oxygen from the blood, so that your cells can use it. Because of very less CO2, the oxygen can’t be used by the cells.
Phase 2 : Holding your Breath
Holding your breath will allow CO2 to build up and it will start to pull Oxygen out of the blood and into the tissues. Because no new oxygen is coming in and there’s no air in the lungs, your blood oxygen saturation begins to drop quickly.
One of the benefits of this, is that your body will try to adapt to these low blood oxygen levels. i.e It adapts you to environments where the air has low oxygen, like high altitudes.
This is why people doing the Wim Hof method could climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in record time.
Erythropoietin :
Erythropoietin aka EPO is secreted in response to reduced oxygen levels in the blood. EPO stimulates the production of RBCs - This increases Oxygen delivery capability in the body.
Urge to breathe :
After a while of holding your breath, receptors in the brain will be triggered either by too high CO2 or too low Oxygen levels. These receptors will then urge you to breathe. You should try to fight this urge for as long as you can.
Then, When you take a deep breath and hold in the air, you’ll feel calm and focussed and alert.
Release of Adrenaline and Nor Adrenaline :
So, at some point in this process, your endocrine system will be stimulated, leading to a strong release of hormones - Adrenaline and Nor Adrenaline in particular, which in turn leads to production of anti-inflammatory mediators.
It might be because both the hyperventilation and breath hold steps are stimulating the release of adrenaline, you end up with particularly high levels.
In fact, A study states that the adrenaline levels in the individuals trained in the Wim Hof method reached higher levels than those who are about to go into a bungee jump.
One concrete benefit of the Wim hof method is that it’ll wake you up. The breathing is something you can do while you’re still laying down, so it can very quickly bust through morning grogginess and prepare you for the day.
Phase 3 : Cold Shower
When you have a Cold Shower along with the breathing and a mix of neuro and biochemistry happening inside you, you become much more resilient.
Nor epinephrine begins coursing through your body stirring up the fight or flight response similar to adrenaline but not quite the same. It mobilizes your brain and body into action.
Your immune system is again repressed with inflammatory proteins being discouraged and studies have shown that people who take cold showers have a higher white blood cell count compared to those who didn’t, meaning cold showers also improve and strengthen the immune system and it’s response.
Furthermore, when you take a cold shower, your body begins freaking out seeking a way to produce heat to stabilise itself. It produces heat via brown fats in your body that burns immediately for the sake of heat and energy.
Your cardiovascular system also kicks in redirecting blood to warm itself up, strengthening your veins and arteries and Cellular metabolism goes through the roof.
The More you do this, the Physiological systems become more efficient and you actually become cold resistant(Somewhat) and more importantly you feel great.
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