My lungs hurt so frkn! bad!

Over the past two years I’ve been struggling to regain strength in my lungs due to the long term effects of a possible COVID infection somewhere early 2020. I say possible, because back then you couldn’t get tested yet, so I don’t know for sure. Symptoms have been acute shortness of breath, increased allergy sensitivity, enduring inflammation of the bronchi and a strongly reduced VO2 Max. So for example, whenever I tried to pick up the pace during training it would hurt or I just couldn’t get the necessary amount of oxygen into my body. When the seasons changed to Winter-ish this got progressively worse. That sucked!

Wim Hof Method

I’ve since long been fascinated by Wim Hof and his challenges with the cold. Somewhere around July 2021 I saw a video on youtube where he was explaining the breathing. That set the wheels in motion for me and got me started. Using his technique and breath holding I quickly progressed to a state in which I could hold my breath for multiple minutes (like close to 6 now!). This instilled confidence that I had found something that helped me. Because the day after my exercise I could wake up and not be grasping for air and also have a sort of normal experience while exercising.

Going backwards

I thought, this might be enough to recover, but last December I got completely ran over by my allergy sensitivity. It started to require loads of anti-histamine and even then I could barely keep functioning. The only thing that worked to calm down the situation was walking outside in the cold!

Finding a way forward

Since I installed the Wim Hof Method App, to help me coach my breath work, I also started to receive emails with announcements of their training programs. You can also find them on the official Wim Hof Method site. I figured, I might as well have a go, since cold seems to have a positive effect. I’ve started my course on New Years day, as a piece of extra motivation to bring enduring change because the barrier of entry is quite brutal.

Safety

When starting cold therapy it’s important to follow safety guidance. The thing with cold is that you have to be aware that you cannot instantly turn it off. The shower yes, but the cold remains for a while. If you decide to go beyond your capacity, you can end up with hypothermia, which needles to say is really bad. So pay attention on how to build up your capabilities.

Cold, cold showers

The way to start cold therapy is to use a cold shower every day! And I don’t mean “turn down the temp a bit”, nope, you have to crank it fully down to “cold water only”. It’s definitely a way of waking up. That’s also why I used my “New Year’s resolution” as a piece of extra motivation. It would be silly to break that on day ONE, so there I went. I use the process of having a warm shower first, step out under the water, turn the tap to cold and ease into the cold water flow by reaching in with my arms first and then gently stepping back into the shower. Keep breathing!

The first week you start with 30 seconds of cold water, and each week you add on more time till you end up somewhere between three and five minutes. Additionally new challenges are added, like sticking your hand in ice water, first for two minutes, then also build up to longer. That really hurt the first time, all “pins and needles” but steadily you get the hang of it and the body adapts. I guess the mind included, since you build up confidence that you can do it.

Discipline

They don’t call Wim “The Ice Man” for nothing, his program is full on with cold exposure therapy. It will push you way beyond the point where you thought you could go, truly eye opening. It’s been moderately challenging to get started and keep going, but now, a couple of weeks in, with sometimes multiple cold showers and ice baths per day, I’m getting to love the cold exposure and it has become routine. It is tremendous to experience what the human body can endure and how it can build up (or should I say AWAKEN!) the power nature has given us. I’ve known a lot of this instinctively, especially from surfing in cold water, where your body just does it! No thinking required. We don’t seem to realise the great power we can unlock for ourselves with this. It requires us to endure the cold consistently to unlock reaping the benefits.

Pay off (4 weeks in)

Since I started, already a large part of the symptoms I had vanished. That is after four weeks of every day cold exposure. No more anti-histamine required, no more inflammation of the bronchi. I have regained the capacity to exercise and am now able to build up the duration. High intensity is still challenging but the needle is moving. I’ll revisit this a at a later point in time to compare the improvements. For now I’m really happy.

Update (8 weeks in)

The program where you start with a cold shower first is pretty brutal to be honest, but I’m managing to breath through it. Its incredible how much confidence you gain “knowing” you can deal with these type of challenges after a few weeks of practice. That doesn’t mean that it’s all comfy and effortless, but your mind helps you. It made me think about a quote by

Jocko Willink: “Discipline equals freedom”.

That is truly the case, don’t back down and the reward you gain is better health, allowing you to do more things and be “more free”. One of those thing you only experience if you actually do it.

Stress relief

A significant benefit seems to be stress relief. It’s hard to describe but after taking a cold shower your mind becomes tranquil, allowing you to rest in an unexpected way and recharge. Especially nice after an intense day of meetings and programming. I combine it as part of my exercise routine, do a cool down, take a warm shower and then three to five minutes full cold. The cooling also helps with removing lactic acid from the muscles so your recovery is shortened, a nice side-effect.

Intensions

My intension is to keep working at this, my health is key to my well-being. The cold is … honest, fierce and relentless. But it awakes great powers in our bodies. Let’s see where this can take me. The program is however becoming more brutal than before. For the next couple of weeks, the showers are starting cold, then warm for a bit and ending cold, upping the level of fierceness even further.

Gratitude

Thanks Wim Hof for sharing your wisdom and your fight to let the World know about your discovery and get the scientific recognition it deserves. Your are a wonderful human being, I owe you a lot of gratitude. Thanks for improving my life.