The Science of How to Consciously Control Your Immune System
http://highexistence.com/consciously-control-immune-system-wim-hof-method-system-wim-hof-method/
This article looked at a study conducted by injecting participants with a dead bacteria strain that usually produces an intense immune response. Half of the participants, however, were trained in the Wim Hof Method and did not present this of intense immune response. The creator of this method, Wim Hof, holds 20 world records in a variety of feats related to cold temperature endurance. The training consisted of meditation, cyclic hyperventilation followed by breath retention, and cold exposure. The scientific basis given for this phenomena was that the breathing technique makes huge fluctuations in the acidity degree, causing a chemical release of adrenaline which in turn is said to suppress the body's normal immune response.
I am extremely skeptical of this article for several reasons. First, the title sounds like a snake oil hoax. Second, there were links to learn his techniques in the article, which are also known as advertisements. As for the study, the treatment group only had 12 participants in it, which is obviously far too few. In regards to the scientific explanation, what it basically said was that people could stress themselves out so much that there immune system is impaired. This isn't news though, we've known for a long time that stress is a risk factor for countless diseases and chronic illnesses. The ability to suppress your body's immune response is very rarely, if ever, advantageous. The article did provide a link to the published scientific study and it was edited by people from credible institutions such as the Yale University School of Medicine. That being said, great claims need great evidence and this article has not provided nearly enough evidence to make the claim that one can consciously control one's immune system.
This article looked at a study conducted by injecting participants with a dead bacteria strain that usually produces an intense immune response. Half of the participants, however, were trained in the Wim Hof Method and did not present this of intense immune response. The creator of this method, Wim Hof, holds 20 world records in a variety of feats related to cold temperature endurance. The training consisted of meditation, cyclic hyperventilation followed by breath retention, and cold exposure. The scientific basis given for this phenomena was that the breathing technique makes huge fluctuations in the acidity degree, causing a chemical release of adrenaline which in turn is said to suppress the body's normal immune response.
I am extremely skeptical of this article for several reasons. First, the title sounds like a snake oil hoax. Second, there were links to learn his techniques in the article, which are also known as advertisements. As for the study, the treatment group only had 12 participants in it, which is obviously far too few. In regards to the scientific explanation, what it basically said was that people could stress themselves out so much that there immune system is impaired. This isn't news though, we've known for a long time that stress is a risk factor for countless diseases and chronic illnesses. The ability to suppress your body's immune response is very rarely, if ever, advantageous. The article did provide a link to the published scientific study and it was edited by people from credible institutions such as the Yale University School of Medicine. That being said, great claims need great evidence and this article has not provided nearly enough evidence to make the claim that one can consciously control one's immune system.
I had a similar reaction. I was trying to figure out what would be the benefit of not having the intense immune response. Yes the bacteria is dead but you never know what kind of affect it can have on your body later on. It would be interesting to do a follow up study on the people who did not respond once they stopped training for a period of time to see if they had a later response to the bacteria.
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