PROFESSOR: If I went out for a run now dressed like this,
you would probably call me nuts, right?
Because it's so cold outside that
I'd probably dye of hypothermia.
However, in 2009 Wim Hof managed to run
a full marathon in minus 30 degrees
Celsius wearing nothing but shorts.
While most people would probably die,
Wim Hof has been able to survive.
So, what makes Wim Hof able to survive where others can't?
To research him, researchers in Netherlands
subject him to icy bath for almost two hours.
While most people would have their core body temperature
drop to below 35 degrees causing hypothermia to kick in.
Wim Hof's Body temperature drop to merely 37.4 degrees
Celsius, staying surprisingly warm.
And the funny thing is that the researchers couldn't
find exactly what had happened.
Maybe it's his genetic ancestry that saves him.
In a separate study, scientists have
found that individuals with [? Cocam ?] ancestry
have mitochondria that can produce more heat and less
chemical energy.
Mitochondria is like a mini furnace
that burns the sugars from the food we eat
into chemical and heat energy.
Individuals like this would have been better
able to survive the cold.
However, scientists haven't fully studied Wim Hof's genome,
so we don't really know.
Wim Hof practices g-tummo, a Tibetan form
of meditation and breathing which allows
him to double his metabolism.
Remember those mitochondria I mentioned before?
Wim Hof can produce enough heat through his mitochondria
with specific breathing and muscle
contractions that can produce enough heat
to keep his body warm.
Well, you might believe that this is nonscientific.
However, studies at NUS have shown
these participants increased their core body temperature
using g-tummo, and they had no prior meditation experience.
Now, why could this be so?
Increases in alpha and beta waves are noticed,
and many have theorized that this has enabled the body
to effectively heat the center as well as distribute heat
to the extremities.
We do not fully understand Wim Hof's methods.
And while some have tried to follow in his footsteps,
it would be unwise to do the same.
And Wim Hof even claims that he can control
other parts of his body.
Now if this is true, and scientifically backed,
who knows what doors it could open?
While science hasn't explained it all yet, and I myself
don't buy these Wim Hof's methods.
Maybe I'd better be off donning more jackets.