Influencing the Immune System | Wim Hof Method Science

If you take the bits of a dead bacteria

And introduce them into someone's body

In all likelihood, the person's immune system is going to flare as if it's under attack.

As harmless as dead bacteria might sound

The body will still react as if it's being invaded.

These dead bits are also known as endotoxin

And are a major red flag for the immune system.

When your immune system does find endotoxin in the body

It will trigger the release of different proteins and physiological changes.

It will make a person feel sick.

Symptoms such as fever, nausea, headache, shivering

Are caused by your immune system gearing up to fight off infections.

This is known as the innate immune response.

It's fantastic!

You can take any person, inject them with endotoxin, and watch them feel terrible for a short while.

And that's what scientists at Radboud University did!

With over 100 people, mapping out a predictable innate immune response.

Now, it wasn't believed that one could voluntarily influence the innate immune response.

But that's exactly what happened when scientists at Radboud injected Wim Hof with endotoxin.

Using the breathing method he developed

He was able to dampen the immune response to the endotoxins presence

By flooding himself with adrenaline.

And stimulating the release of a key messaging protein.

Interleukin 10.

This was achieved through voluntarily influencing the autonomic nervous system.

The same system that beats your heart, remembers to breathe for you...

And prepares you to fight or flight in the face of danger.

A system that for all intents and purposes

Should not be controllable

Because, if we did have control over this system

We might forget to breathe or beat our hearts because we were thinking about...cake.

Yet, this is exactly what happened in the case of Wim Hof.

Voluntarily flooding his body with adrenaline.

Deliberate influence over his autonomic nervous system.

So what should be done?

The possibility is that Wim Hof had different genetics from the average person

Giving him the unique ability to withstand the endotoxin

So a larger test was needed.

With more participants, performing the same techniques designed by Hof.

30 healthy male volunteers were gathered.

18 of whom would be trained by Wim Hof.

And the other 12 are the control to the larger endotoxin experiment.

The 18 volunteers went to Poland

To train in a mixture of meditation, cold exposure, and the breathing technique over 4 days.

And would enjoy a gauntlet of swimming in freezing cold water.

Standing and lying in the snow.

And for the ultimate test, climb a mountain at the elevation of 1590 meters.

With wind chills of -27° C.

All done in shorts.

Very nice shorts too!

The kind you wear at the beach.

Those who weren't trained - the control group, were injected with endotoxin.

They exhibited the typical symptoms and reactions of the innate immune response.

Not a fun thing to experience granted, but we suffer for science here...and yeah, they suffered...

During the experiment a lot of information was kept track of.

This included the composition of the blood.

Cytokines, catecholamines, white blood cell count.

And various physiological changes, such as heart rate and temperature.

This group did not commit to any breathing techniques. Simply passively enduring the endo-toxemia.

The trained group, on the other hand, did commit to the breathing techniques

During the first 2.5 hours of the 8-hour experimentation.

And, in the end, were successful in dampening their innate immune response.

But what happened?

Well, let's walk through this.

There were lots of fun bits of information collected and I'll try to condense the more interesting parts.

Firstly, most clearly, the trained group had a lot more adrenaline from the very start of the experiment

Due to the breathing.

As compared to the control.

This burst of adrenaline from the very start

Correlates nicely with the production of interleukin-10.

An anti-inflammatory cytokine or cell messaging protein.

Here's the control for comparison.

It's a little flatter.

The anti-inflammatory element of interleukin 10

Is that it inhibits the release of other cytokines that contribute towards inflammation

And mediation of the innate immune response.

As a result, the trained group had a less pronounced release of these inflammatory proteins compared to the control.

Had less acute symptoms, and recovered faster.

Here are the cytokines kept track of in the control.

Here in the trained group.

Notice the difference in release.

Far fewer in the trained group because of interleukin - 10.

Now, even though the inflammatory response was suppressed

White blood cells were not.

Having adrenaline in the system actually stirred leukocytosis

And increased of white blood cells in the blood.

Here's a graph showing the controls white blood cell count over the 8-hour experiment

As compared to the trained volunteers.

Some of the categories of different white blood cells were also measured

But the experiment was limited in that not all subtypes were counted.

So, stirred from adrenaline

It appears as though the immune system was still humming and working in the background.

Despite a dampened inflammation response.

Being able to dampen inflammation is also wonderful news on its own!

It implies an interesting alternative

To those who suffer from excessive or persistent inflammation.

Especially when considering autoimmune diseases.

The study of which this animation is based off is a precursor to more investigation.

It had a small sample size, but the results were astonishing!

The influence over the autonomic nervous system

Was probably the most striking part that even Peter Pickers

One of the scientists who orchestrated the study, expressed his surprise.

If there's one thing this tells us

Is that there are deeper layers of our bodies that we can consciously explore.

A potential we should study.

A potential within our biology.

And it's all there in front of us.

So, let's have fun exploring!