Convince Me!

"When I see someone, I start a conversation and say, 'It's not as strange as it looks."

"It is good for mental well-being ... the mental and physical effects last for several hours."

David Pattenden, 72, Beverley, East Yorks

"Cold is all in the mind. [Winter gives me] the same feeling as cold water on my skin. It lessens anxiety and makes me feel more resilient."

"Lockdown makes me feel numb, but this makes me happy."

"I expose my skin to the cold air while running and exercising as I find it helps my immune system and keeps me alert and happy."

Debbie Bent, 54

"You really have to be calm, focused and very mindful and aware of your physiology. It's potentially life-threatening if you stay out too long."

"Your body is buzzing, your head is clear, you're warm and you experience all the benefits of being immersed in your environment in these low temperatures."

"[A cold spike and adrenalin release] has a significant impact on inflammation reduction and circulation. Ice baths are an integral part of professional sports recovery."

"We've got used to living in the warm so what may not be that extreme seems so much more uncomfortable. Our body never learns how to thermoregulate itself."

"{People impressed with this new therapeutic push of the body to the limit are] waiting for the snowfall or extreme weather to expose their skin because of the benefits of mindful walking in the cold." 

"[Running or walking in the cold] is about letting go of our preferences for comfort ... I have become phenomenally strong in terms of my emotional, physical and spiritual resilience to life's trials, in all settings and contexts, through the medium of natural cold exposure."

"When you're in that moment of feeling a huge gust of ice-cold wind hitting your body with snow or rain bombarding you, a sense of formidable empowerment overcomes you and all of a sudden, you're warm and you're buzzing with endorphins."

Will van Zyl, 47, teacher, Wim Hof Method workshops and retreats

Win Hof Method website

 

Wim Hof, a 61-year-old Dutch adventurer has impressed a lot of people with his skin-bared-to-the-cold philosophy on health and well-being. He is the record holder for a barefoot half marathon on ice and snow, and has a cult following. Over 500 Wim Hof Method instructors offer their services to induct, introduce and train people in the Wim Hof way of approaching natural health therapies by the simple expedient of accustoming the body to bare-skin exposure to the cold.

This is an offshoot of the Nordic devotion to the very same type of therapeutic belief in health measured in terms of accustoming the body to exposure to winter cold, toughening the body and relaxing the mind. A 2011 study from Radboud University (Netherlands) found sympathetic nervous and immune systems to be influenced by short-term training programs like unclothing oneself and taking a cold walk outdoors in inclement winter weather. And that study influenced Mr. Hof to take his own experimental first steps in practising winter-weather-skin exposure.

Call it meditation with an Arctic twist

Obviously aspirants to toughening themselves up to withstand the experience of baring oneself nakedly to the winter elements of cold, ice, snow and wind, cannot be achieved overnight. A gradual build-up of body tolerance to the shock must take place before a potential adherent to the method can be capable of spending any length of time exposed in this way. And even then, a reasonable length of time and no more must be dedicated to that exposure. The time element would be best achieved on an individual basis; people becoming aware of the fine line for them personally between achieving comfort and acquiring a dangerous exposure level.

Sensitivity to sensations that may warn of overdoing exposure is paramount for safety since risk of hypothermia and frostbite with excess is always a danger until such time as tolerance has built to a point where lengthier exposure can be achieved. David Pattenden became aware that local police were looking into reports of a semi-naked man tramping through his village in extremely cold temperatures, alerting him to the fact that his hobby was concerning to onlookers perhaps fearing for his sanity.

He has plenty of company and the company of bareskin runners and walkers is steadily increasing, people having become intrigued by the prospect of enjoying the chill feeling against their bare skin. Lockdown has served to point people in unusual directions for relief from boredom and isolation. The Outdoor Swimming Society in the U.K. has enjoyed an increase in membership by a third coinciding with the first of the lockdowns. A Swim England study concludes 7.5 million people in the U.K. swim outdoors in winter.

 

Hof holds 21 Guinness World Records, scooping one for spending nearly two hours in an ice bath. Adults are recommended to spend no more than 10 minutes in one

 

When the third lockdown entered her life, Debbie Bent began to walk her dog, fairly casually dressed in vest top and thin trousers. The British are well known for their 'eccentricity' and that a steadily growing number of people have taken to new lifestyle therapies is hardly surprising. Despite which, people continue to be surprised and perhaps a little concerned when they see someone out and about on frigid days in exposed condition. Ms.Bent has embraced wild swimming as well.

According to presenter Ben Fogle who posted a photograph of himself running in the snow wearing shorts and nothing else, the caption on his Instagram feed captured his sentiment: "cold is all in the mind. I expose my skin to the cold air while running and exercising as I find it helps my immune system and keeps me alert and happy. Clothes, central heating and inactivity have reduced the efficacy of our bodies", he states with the utmost conviction.

Win Hof Workshop, Prague, Czech Republic  

"Exposure to fresh air outside is good for us because it can help provide non-recycled air to the lungs which improves the blood's oxygen levels and circulation."

"Moreover, moderately cold temperatures are good for skin health because it constrains the blood vessels in the skin [allowing the body temperature to regulate]."

Dr.Paul Banwell, founder, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit, East Grinstead, U.K.

IS THERE TRUTH TO WIM HOF'S METHOD? 

When the human body is exposed to extreme cold, our core temperature drops, causing the body to enter a state of hypothermia, and eventually we freeze to death.

But 57-year-old Wim Hof, from the Netherlands, has been able to spend nearly two hours in an ice bath and emerge unharmed.

The Iceman, as he is known, has also run a full marathon above the Arctic Circle wearing just shorts.

Hof puts his capabilities down to his self-developed meditation and breathing technique – known as the Wim Hof Method – enabling him to control his body’s autonomous hormonal responses.

This was tested by researchers at Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands as part of research into the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Hof was injected with endotoxin, a substance that tricks the body into thinking it is under bacterial attack.

He should have developed a fever and flu-like symptoms but did not, so researchers concluded that there may be truth to his claims about his ability to suppress his automatic immune response.