Wim Hof is this dude who 30 odd years ago discovered some true biohacks. Unlike those who confuse healthy behaviours with biohacks, he has actually developed a technique for modulating the autonomic nervous system and endocrine system. Through years of exploration, he developed significant awareness and control over otherwise subconscious processes. This was a big surprise to scientists and researchers at the time, and suggested that the autonomic nervous system was less auto than previously believed. His work has since been studied by many universities and his claims have been measured and verified. The main point he emphasises is that while he initially applied this technique to himself, he is not unique, and he has taught many people to achieve similar results.
Wim Hof most famously has been able to control thermoregulation and endure some rather long ice baths and perform epic feats of endurance on minimal training, in freezing conditions, wearing basically no clothes. This earned him the name The Iceman. He’s a complete beast, but the majority of the improvements are not made through brute determination, they’re made through practise of the correct technique. It’s also notable that his immune system has become very strong, and studies have shown that he can deal with intruders and inflammation far better than even the most finely dialled human specimens health science had previously seen. Others following in his steps have been shown to have improved endurance performance and lower risk of chronic disease. His teachings are called the Wim Hof Method and today I gave his breathing routine a test to see what all the fuss was about.
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I lay on my back with a pillow to support my head. I was relaxed and began the deep breathing. Strongly in, all the way in, then release. Not all the way out, just a relaxed but fast release. Then repeat 30-40 times. I lost count towards the end, but I was surprised that it takes so long, up to 5 minutes, just to breathe 30 times. Big breaths I guess! Regardless, I was clearly doing something right because my hands and solar plexus were buzzing and I was feeling a little lightheaded.
The next step, after a releasing the final big breath is the hold. Normally when we hold our breath we breath in first, but this is not the case here, much to my concern. I was expecting to last 90 seconds, my previous personal record. I suspected that I was more oxygenated from the hyperventilating, but without full lungs I thought I wouldn’t get far. 3 things happened. Firstly, the buzzing and solar plexus faded over the course of the hold. Secondly, after holding my breath for 2 minutes I began to hear a ringing sound, like next level tinnitus, which merged into a hissing sound like pressurised air escaping a punctured tyre. Thirdly, I lasted for 3 minute without breathing and the feeling of asphyxiation only came on in the last 10 seconds.
The final step is a big breath in and hold for 15 seconds. At this point and I felt rather good. Extra good! But I still had that hissing sound so I searched around for a minute to find where the gas leak was before accepting that it was in my head. It slowly faded and I got back down for round 2.
Round 2 was much the same as the first time, but my hands, solar plexus and now my feet, but to a lesser degree, were buzzing noticeably more and my head was feeling strange.
After my final big breath out, I held as before. Staring straight up at the ceiling, I saw the 2 lights split into 4. I felt lightheaded as before, but the experience wasn’t moving in the direction of fainting. Unlike with fainting, I was alert and there was no sign of the grey haze. The ringing merging to hissing came on louder. I held on for 4 minutes, impressive.
Big breath in and wow, what a rush! That was definitely euphoric! I lay peacefully for 3 minutes before getting into round 3.
I really gave the hyperventilating a big push on this round. After starting with a breathing rate that was a little too slow, I picked it up to reach new heights. I got closer to 50 breaths, I think. Again, I wasn’t counting but the buzzing was so intense that I didn’t want to let the feeling go.
But I did, and went into the breath hold again. Some serious double vision followed. The intense buzzing merged into my senses of touch, sound and my sight lightly pulsating. Then emerged a black and white geometric pattern superimposed over the ceiling. Unmistakably similar to what happens when you inhale laughing gas, or nos as it’s known on the streets. Any neuroscientists out there that can fill in the gaps for me? The hissing sound was proportionally louder too. I held my breath for 7.5 minutes! Unbelievable! The feeling of asphyxiation was very strong from 7 minutes but I held on for the personal record despite holding on to this degree not being part of the Wim Hof Method.
Then for the breath in and hold. Boom! What a rush! Although, it was hard to tell how much of the rush was my genuine astonishment and how much was part of the routine. I laughed for a solid minute then lay meditatively for another 10.
As usual, here is my heart rate. I though heart rate might track how much my body was wanting oxygen. Maybe it still does at some points, but we really need to measure oxygen saturation and pH in the blood. I know heart rate will increase with work of breathing because I have played with that numerous times before, but there seems to be an extra component to my heart rate once I maintained this deep hyperventilating for minutes. Look at it skyrocket from 75 to 103 when I got the depth and pacing of the breathing right on round 3! It then plummeted to 60 before climbing higher as my body detects CO2 in my lungs during the hold. It went back to 60 not long after I stopped my watch.
I’ll definitely be doing this again and I suspect I can get the routine down to 25 minutes by sticking to the recommended 30 breaths and not faffing after the 15 second hold.
Thanks for sharing this. I’ve been trying out Wim Hof breathing and showers for the last 5 days, and from the first time I’ve also been experiencing the hissing sound, exactly as you describe, accompanied by a visual of a warm ball of light (I have been using blackout eye mask so I don’t need to second-guess whether the light is something external). It comes in after the third or fourth round and stays for a few minutes, and has gotten progressively more intense. I just let it be and allow it as part of the experience. It feels extremely peaceful and enjoyable. I’ve been practicing other forms of meditation, Yoga and breathing exercises for years but this is a new experience for me. Have you discovered anything more about these phenomena since posting?
Hi Roy, thanks! I do have more to add and have had a follow up piece in the pipeline for some time.
It sounds like we have similar experiences, as I too get the ball of light most times. But the ball is not smooth-edged, more light rays of light coming out of a brightly lit tunnel into dark surroundings. My hunch is that this is related too the light at the end of the tunnel people refer to in other scenarios when oxygen is getting low. I do a meditation following the breathing exercises and I’m pretty blissed out, but to a much lower degree than when I first started.
Thanks, Gene. I look forward to reading your follow up! Since I wrote the comment, that hissing sound has gone from “gas leak” to pulsating hisses that sound like a field of crickets. There was also a high pitched monotone sound I thought was tinnitus that evolved to sound like different pulsing high-pitched tones with a musical quality. Now there’s a lot more sound going on at the same time. It can get loud, too. When it fades in to my awareness, (or maybe a better description is I sink into where the sound is) it catches me by surprise. I really have to relax that impulse to get up and look around for where those sounds are coming from! The ball of light can also be interpreted as a tunnel. I’m experimenting with observing details more closely, but if I start concentrating too hard on perceiving details, I lose the state of relaxed surrender the breathing got me to and it all starts to fade away. I’m guessing if I just keep letting go and passively observing, the visuals will become more clear naturally, just as the sounds did. This is absolutely fascinating!
I have done the breathing exercises for 2 days now – and both times I had ringing in my ears, followed by white noise, which eventually dissipated. It was much louder the second day. I’m hesitant to keep doing the exercises, fearing that I might really mess something up! Have you found any additional info – or did it eventually stop happening? Thank you so much!
Hi. I think it’s safe to say that with so many people trying this over the years we would probably know if the perceived sound was related to some problem. The sound did not reduce across successive sessions for me. The harder I push the ventilation, the loader the sound.
Good that I found this! I was anxious about the hissing sound too as I have a 10year history of tinnitus and a minor hearing loss in that particular ear, too. I suppose, this is some sort of a vascular event, but I really would appreciate a specialists opinion here.
Yea, it’s all still pretty unknown. Maybe we will learn more about these details one day.
So I’ve come upon some measure of an answer with respect to all of this.
I had interviewed a neurologist (one specializing in mind/body exercises like meditation) and it turns out that neuroscience has held a pretty firm understanding of what’s happening here for a while now, it just depends on interpretation. If we want to look at it from a physiological angle, it’s nothing more than a drop in carbon dioxide levels that cause auditory/visual distortions, as well as a change in alkalinity/pH/calcium levels that provoke a number of other physical responses (i.e. tingling in the limbs, euphoric sensations, pressures in the chest, etc.).
I myself had been wondering about the tinnitus aspect of it all (as mine seems to intensify) which is also explained by the change in C02.
Where things get interesting is when it comes to neuroplasticity and how the physical structure of the brain can be altered by practicing the Wim Hof Method (or any other method of meditation, really). I wrote about it for anyone interested (www.borealism.ca – sorry to link share), in an article called ‘The Hiss’ [based on the sound I would experience when I would try this particular breathing exercise].
Even more intriguing options open up when we talk about micro-dosing, etc. with respect to neuroplasticity.
Anyway, for anyone interested, here’s an excerpt from my interview/article summarizing it all:
“With regards to the Wim Hof breathing technique, from a physiological perspective the body enters into a hypocapnic state (low carbon dioxide) after the exaggerated exhales. This is akin to hyperventilating. There’s actually no oxygen deprivation at all, hence the symptoms are all related to decreased C02 levels in the blood. The change in C02 and concomitant increase blood pH has a couple of effects — it causes blood vessels in the brain to constrict, causing decreased blood flow to the eyes (visual distortions) and the same phenomenon to the ears is likely the cause of tinnitus & auditory distortion. Regarding the extremity tingling, this is thought to occur due to calcium shifts causes by the change in blood pH.”
Mystery solved it seems!
I’m going to push back on (or clarify) the claim that there is no oxygen deprivation. Well, in the breathing there may not be, but I’m fairly sure there is oxygen deprivation in the breath hold, at least for those that can sufficiently reduce CO2 levels from the breathing and thereby supress the urge to breath. This is supported by people passing out from the technique, most publicly in swimming pools doing submerged breath holds (RIP), and I can also pass out from this if I give it a good wind up.
I’m happy you bring that up because I don’t fully believe that a) there’s no oxygen deprivation involved and b) that it would have no influence on the sensations experienced. I’m sure there has to be an effect of oxygen deprivation from the consequence of the breath hold.. To me it illustrates the lack of a comprehensive analysis being provided on this exercise (it seems that every field of study is employing some measure of tunnel vision) but if we were to piece all angles together, we’d at least have a bit of a comprehensive understanding.
What is of interest to me is how the spiritual side factors in – I know we’re usually quick to write off the intangible side of it all (as am I) but I feel that a consideration, at the least, is owed to all the claims that consider this method to be transcendental to some degree. It’s at least intriguing to entertain the idea..
Hi Gene, thanks for the great article. I’ve recently discovered the WH method, and I’m curious to know if your still practicing, and what the long term benefits are that you’ve experienced.
Hi Ants. I do not still practise the WH breathing. The only benefit I experienced was getting high and blissed out, which was great don’t get me wrong, but I get a more sustainable sense of satisfaction from other work. It’s also fair to say I did not try to get anything else measured, nor was I prepared to do this for long enough to move the needle on the metrics WH proponents claim are improved by the method. The cold parts of the HW method were never something I could do that reliably since I’m not often near very cold water, but I have found that cold showers are a beneficial part of a before bed wind-down routine, especially in summer. When I am near cold water though, I now like to push the limits and have found the limits to be further than I first assumed.