Wim Hof - Extreme Cold Super Human Challenge

# Super, Ultra

# Powerful

# Extreme

# Radical

# Super Human Challenge

# S. U. P. E. R. #

Our quest for superhumans has brought us to Iceland.

We're right on the edge of the Arctic Circle!

It's freezing cold here!

Today, even in the sun, it's still colder than your freezer at home.

To survive out here, you'd need the power of a superhero.

A superhero like Iceman, who never feels cold and uses frost

and ice to defy evil.

But I've heard of a real-life iceman!

A man whose body does not feel the cold.

A man who cannot be frozen!

This is Wim Hof.

He discovered his cold conquering superpowers accidentally,

over 20 years ago, when he saved a man from a frozen lake.

Since then, he's astounded scientists around the world with

his ability to withstand extreme cold, doing so in just his pants.

And this is him! Wim Hof. I'm so excited to meet you.

-Hi there.

-Hi.

Now, tell me, are you a real life iceman?

That's what they call me! But I am the Iceman, yes.

Wow! Are you superhuman?

I'm superhuman because I trained a lot.

Are you up for three tests, where I'll go up against you,

I'll be like a human guinea pig

and we'll see what my body does as opposed to what your body does,

which is maybe a little bit different?

I'm always up to a new challenge, so let's do it.

This is Dr Megan John, she is an expedition doctor

and has kept people alive in some of the most dangerous environments.

She's devised three supertests to discover how Tim

and Wim's bodies react differently.

So, Dr Megan, I thought we'd be filming up there

in the mountains with the ice, but you've brought us here to the docks.

Why are we here?

For this first experiment,

I need to be able to control the conditions.

I've chilled one of these containers to -10 degrees Celsius,

I'm going to put the two of you in it,

close the door and see what happens.

-10!

Dr Megan will be testing who can stand

freezing temperatures for the longest.

This container is about 12 degrees colder than your fridge at home

and as the test goes on, it will get as cold as a freezer.

This test is being supervised by medical professionals

and you should never try anything like this at home.

It's extremely dangerous.

This is my control centre for today. I've got some great equipment.

Firstly, thermal imaging camera.

It's going to give me some pictures of how the two of your bodies

are losing heat from the outside.

Thermal cameras turn heat rays into different colours.

The white areas are the hottest, red is warm, yellow is cold

and blue is the coldest.

Wow! Cool!

In order for it to be scientifically accurate,

I need you to do it in your underpants.

In my pants?

Yep, in your pants.

In addition, I want your core body temperature,

so that's the temperature on the inside of your body.

How do you manage that?

Two choices. Either we could put a thermometer up your bottoms...

Oh, no, don't do that.

But I've decided we'll go a bit high tech today so I've got these

core body transmitters, which I'd like you to swallow.

So how does that work?

It transmits the temperature to you on the outside?

Exactly, I've got a reader here.

That really is not nice. Don't try anything like this at home.

So, chamber set for -10?

OK, boys, kits off, ready to go!

Let's go!

-10 in my pants.

The normal human temperature is 37 degrees Celsius.

If your body gets colder than that you get goosebumps

and start to shiver.

If you drop to 35 degrees, you are dangerously cold

and we call this hypothermia.

You start to move slowly, your fingers, toes and lips go blue.

Soon, you need to wee.

Then your brain becomes confused.

Eventually, your kidneys, liver, lungs and heart

may shut down and you could die.

If at any point I think your health is in danger,

I'm going to pull you out.

Three. Two. One. Head in.

It really is quite cold.

So already they'll be going into feeling a little bit shocked

first of all.

Dr Megan has given them a few simple games to play, but not for fun.

-Snowball?

-Exactly right! A snowball.

Being dangerously cold affects the brain as well as the body,

so if Tim and Wim become confused playing these games,

Dr Megan will know it's time to get them out!

I don't know if you can see this on the TimCam

but my skin's gone all goose bumps. I've got a lot of goosebumps here.

Goosebumps are made when small muscles in your skin tighten up,

making your hairs stand on end.

This is because thousands of years ago, people were a lot hairier,

so when their hair stood on end, it trapped the heat next

to their skin, keeping them warm, a bit like wearing a jumper.

And after ten minutes, Tim's body is covered in goosebumps,

but Wim doesn't have any.

This is a thing that swims through really cold water. Like you.

Wim just looks completely comfortable,

like he's sat in his living room watching the telly.

-A seal.

-A seal! That's right, he knows that, there we go.

Oh, wow! OK, let's keep going.

Tim really is starting to feel the cold now.

He's shivering, he's rubbing all his muscles together.

He's what we call tremulous,

so very, very light little shakes all over his body.

15 minutes in and the temperature in the cold room has

gone down to -11.5 degrees.

Oh, wow. Got a lot of goosebumps now.

And slightly shivering.

Everything in Tim's body right now

is trying to launch an attack on the cold.

His body is saying, "I don't like this, get me out of it."

Wim is not shivering, he's not moving, he's not confused.

He's not really doing any of the things

I would expect a normal human to do.

I seem to have a pain in my back. Not on my back, but inside.

He's just done something really classic, rubbing the area

on his lower back, which is where the kidneys are.

As you get really cold, you end up getting to the point

where you wet yourself.

In freezing cold like this, your heart has to work much harder

to pump blood around your body.

Now, to make it easier, your body gets

rid of things in your blood that it doesn't need, like excess water.

Now, your kidneys do this.

There are two of them. They're about the size of a mobile phone.

The unwanted water in your blood turns into wee.

All this extra work your kidneys are doing makes them really ache.

25 minutes into the test and it's -12 degrees!

It's so cold that Tim's heart can not provide enough warm blood

to his whole body.

Most of his blood is being sent to his important inner organs.

So the outer parts of his body aren't getting much blood at all.

My knuckles have gone slightly blue here.

Yeah, the knuckles have gone blue.

In fact, my hand's gone blue.

Wim, how you feeling? You shivering a bit with the goosebumps?

Yeah.

Even Wim has started to get goosebumps now.

I don't have to pull him out just yet.

So after 28 minutes and with the cold room at -12 degrees,

goosebumps have appeared on Wim.

This is a whole 23 minutes,

and 2 degrees colder than when they appeared on Tim.

Tim, how are you feeling?

Freezing cold, Dr Megan.

Tim's brain is now so cold

he is losing the ability to think properly.

What have you done?

It's a definite sign of hypothermia.

INDISTINCT CHAT

Why did you do that?

Checking their core body temperatures.

So it's 643.

The average human body temperature is 37 degrees,

and after over 30 minutes with the temperature lower than -12 degrees,

Wim's core temperature has dropped by only half a degree.

Mine...

Tim, tell me how you're feeling.

Very cold now. Very, very cold indeed.

I'm down just below 35.

Tim's body temperature has dropped by more than 2 degrees, this means

it's now under 35 degrees and he's starting to suffer from hypothermia.

His body can't take much more.

Honestly, I'm probably going to pull him quite soon.

Cos he's in pain everywhere.

Come on, people, I can do this.

OK, so Tim is now in so much pain, I don't think it's safe for him

to continue any more, so I want him out.

Boys, can you get him out?

Tim, Tim, you need to get out now.

-Get out.

-I shall finish this in the warmth. Ah!

It's too dangerous for Tim to carry on. He's turning blue and there's

so little blood going to his arms and legs that he can't even walk.

Can we get him in the hot bath now?

After 37 minutes and 13 seconds in this freezing room,

Tim stumbles into the recovery bath, he's in pain and he's very confused.

It's on fire! Like internally on fire, guys.

-That's a bit of fun, isn't it?

-This is a lukewarm bath.

-It's not as warm as you'd have at home.

-It's really, really hot!

But unbelievably, Wim is still in the cold room.

And now he's doing yoga?!

So, clearly, Wim, having already been in there for the ten minutes

it's taken to get Tim out of there and into the bath,

Wim is stood up, holding himself.

I think the experiment has reached its conclusion,

which is that Wim has some super powers,

which Tim, a normal human being, does not have.

So I'd like to call an end to the experiment

and get Wim out of there too.

Wim still has an ordinary body temperature of 36.5 degrees

after 40 minutes of extraordinarily freezing cold!

You see how perfectly you walked out, Wim. How are you feeling?

-OK.

-You've got ice cubes around your beard.

So how is Wim able to do this?

It seems he can control his body temperature.

Now, there is a part of your brain called the hypothalamus

and its job is to keep your body at 37 degrees.

It's about the size of a peanut.

Your hypothalamus works automatically.

You cannot control it or override it.

What's amazing is that Wim can control his hypothalamus

and can make himself hotter if he wants to.

So before he went into the tank,

he turned his temperature up to 39 degrees.

We're here on the Vatnajokull Glacier.

The ice can get as much as 1,000 metres thick.

And it gets cold, very, very cold!

But luckily, people are amazingly, fantastically adaptable.

Especially the Kallallit people from Greenland.

They have more blood cells than people from warmer areas,

which generates more heat, and their bodies are small and bulky,

which is the best shape to protect you from the cold.

They eat loads of fat, from food like seal blubber,

which their bodies then burn, to create heat and keep them warm.

In supertest two, Dr Megan is testing Wim

and Tim's ability to stay warm whilst exercising in the cold.

She has marked out a course on the largest ice cap in Europe

and she wants to see who can run for the longest.

The weather changes in an instant here, from sunlight to blizzards,

but it's always very cold.

OK, so this is the course?

Yep, I've marked out a 1 kilometre course with these flags and I'd

like the two of you to try and do it in just your shorts, barefoot.

-Barefoot?

-Barefoot.

-I'm absolutely loving this.

I might get frostbite, this is seriously cold.

That is a danger here today, which is why I'll be monitoring

your core body temperature, your heart rate, talking to you and I've

brought a safety vehicle here with me, with a search and rescue team.

OK, I feel a bit reassured now.

Everybody's body is different but an average, fit adult would normally

have a heart rate during exercise of around 120 beats per minute.

But running in the freezing cold puts extra stress on your body.

You're more likely to damage a muscle.

With no shoes, you could freeze your toes and get frostbite.

You use up oxygen much more quickly,

and could become confused, or even faint.

Your heart beats faster

and if you reach your maximum heart rate, you could collapse.

In extreme cases, you could have a heart attack and you could die.

You seem really relaxed about this. You're ready to go.

What have you done? What's the secret?

I trained a lot and to connect the mind with the body.

And how do you do that?

Sort of a meditation, going deeper within yourself

and reawaken the natural ability to cope with cold.

So do you think that before we do the test you could teach me that,

at least a little bit?

I will give the principles, but you've got to build the house.

OK. Let's try it.

Meditation is a way of focusing your mind

by using special breathing and concentration.

Make yourself as light as possible.

You need to try and reconnect with your body.

You should only try meditating if you're with an expert

and Wim has trained for over 20 years.

Totally in. Totally out. Once again. Totally in. Totally out.

Our thermal camera image shows that

Wim's body temperature is beginning to rise.

And the same thing is happening to Tim.

It's really interesting to see that despite the fact

that it's 0 degrees, Tim's starting to sweat

Tim's core body temperature, which started at 37 degrees, is going up.

So fascinatingly, he's gone up by nearly a degree, to 38.18.

What's your heart rate doing at the moment?

Still running at around 72.

So you've brought it down a little bit from before.

OK, so 41.47. So whenever you're ready, Wim. 62.

They're ready to go.

Are you good? Let's do this now.

Let's go.

Normally, Tim's heart rate when he's running is 121 beats per minute,

but in these freezing conditions, it's beating a lot faster.

Heart rate is now at 167.

Wim, can you let me know your heart rate?

82.

82. So we've got a heart rate of 82. Tim's is nearly double.

Blood carries oxygen and sugars round the body.

When you exercise, you use more oxygen and sugar

so your heart needs to pump faster.

Now, when you're cold, your body needs more oxygen and sugar too.

That also makes your heart pump faster.

So when you run in the freezing cold, your heart has to pump

extremely hard to keep you moving and keep you warm.

Running on the ice in the coldest glacier in Europe.

It's the 250 metre mark.

We've gone past the first flag.

Tim is starting to struggle

but Wim is fine, he's conserving his energy and pacing himself.

Wim's heart rate is going at 82 beats per minute,

a very normal response to exercise.

Tim's heart's under an awful lot of pressure.

Coming down the hill now. Down the hill.

Tim, what's your heart rate now?

Heart rate is up at 178.

84.

Wim's heart rate is incredibly low at only 84 beats per minute,

ut Tim's is now 178. This is dangerously fast.

This is getting touch and go as to whether I can let them

go on any more. Boys, if you could just stop

so I can check your core body temperature before you carry on.

HE PANTS

I want you to look at my feet.

In extreme cold, your body must keep your vital organs warm

to keep you alive.

This means that your body concentrates on getting

nice warm blood to these bits.

Other less important bits, like your fingers and toes,

they get less blood.

With less blood keeping them warm, these bits start to feel numb,

then they start to freeze.

The skin on them blisters turns black.

Eventually, they can die and drop off.

Tim's numb feet are an early warning sign of frostbite.

So you're going, you're still going at 37.5.

This is extraordinary. I did not think this would be possible at all.

I'm amazed that he's carried this far

but I'm starting to get very worried about Tim's general health.

His heart rate is going nearly three times

what I would be comfortable with.

They've passed the 750 metre mark.

Tim is uncoordinated, confused and his heart rate is critically high,

while Wim's body condition, well, it's has hardly changed at all.

Now, I think, interestingly,

purposability determination's kicked in.

One of the signs of hypothermia is confusion

and Tim is starting to exhibit a little bit of confusion.

He thinks he can manage more than he can.

What normally happens with people when they get very cold

is the thing they die of is doing more than they should

because they start to get fighty and aggressive.

But this is absolutely more than I ever hoped or dreamed of

being able to do. In bare feet. Across a glacier.

Can I have your heart rates now?

-It's now at 184.

-92.

Wow. Coming up to 1,000 metres Wim's heart rate is unbelievably low.

But Tim's has now moved into a critical state,

his heart really can't take much more of this.

I'm using every single molecule of energy to make it to those flags.

I've got pain in my feet.

Tim, I don't think it's safe for you to continue.

HE PANTS

Tim's finished the race, but in doing so

has put himself in serious danger.

Dr Megan and the team have to cover him in insulating materials to

keep him warm as blood starts to return to his outer body.

I'm trying to keep his head lower than his heart

so that the blood supply gets back to his heart.

I'm trying to feed him some sugar, cos you get a rapid reduction

in sugar when you do so much exercise.

The rest of me feels OK, it's just the feet.

I can't move them now.

It'll be painful for Tim all over, but especially in his feet.

Tim needs to get off the mountain and into a recovery bath fast!

But remarkably, Wim is completely fine!

So right now, do you feel in control of your heart rate?

-Yeah.

-In control of your body temperature?

-Yes.

-You don't feel unwell in any way?

-No.

-You don't feel sick?

-No.

-No pain anywhere in your body?

-Nothing.

Remarkable. Quite remarkable.

OK. We've just come off the mountain now.

Dr Megan's looked at my feet and it seems I might have frostbite

so they're taking me back to the hotel

to get some sort of warming bath on them.

It'll be painful, but my feet will return to normal.

Sometimes the human body has an amazing ability to recover.

In 1999, Swedish Skier Anne Bagenholm fell

headfirst into a frozen water and was trapped under the ice.

Luckily, she found an air pocket and was able to breath but eventually

she got so cold, extreme hypothermia actually stopped her heart!

When she was cut out of the ice,

Anne's heart had stopped for 80 minutes.

Her body temperature was so cold that she should have been dead.

Amazingly, as Anne's body slowly warmed up,

signs of life began to show.

And incredibly, ten days later, she was brought fully back to life.

Anne now works as a doctor in the hospital that saved her life.

In the third and final supertest, Dr Megan wants to see

how their bodies react in cold water.

She's set up a 300 metre swim in a freezing Arctic lake.

This swim is so dangerous, we have a specialist safety crew on standby.

Wim, with his extraordinary super powers, tells me that he

can swim in his swimming trunks for approximately ten minutes.

-In your trunks?

-Don't be mistaken, it needs a lot of trainings.

Otherwise, hypothermia's a real threat to the health.

I'd imagine it's a fatal threat to the health.

So we have to do this controlled,

but then this experiment is an adventure.

And we're thinking you'll give that a go as well

so we can test your body.

I'm going to try the swimming in my shorts with the icebergs?

-Tim, I will make sure you don't come to any harm.

-That's reassuring.

And I am there too. I am the Iceman.

You're the Iceman, that's right, you are.

And I'm a man who needs to get into some swimming trunks.

Freezing cold water is extremely dangerous because

it takes away heat from your body 15 times quicker than air.

When swimming in icy water, your muscles get cold so quickly

that they stop working, which means you can't swim,

which means you can drown.

The freezing temperature can also cause your body to go into shock.

And you could suffer a heart attack and die.

This is incredibly dangerous.

If you do have a glacial lagoon in your back garden,

do not try this at home.

And even if you haven't, don't try this in any freezing water.

-OK, shall we do this?

-Yes.

-Good luck, Tim.

-Right, I'm going to try my best.

It's got icebergs in!

Oh, that's cold. That's really quite cold!

-Tell me what your heart rate's doing, Tim.

-110.

-And Wim?

-72.

-72? Brilliant. Well done.

-Good grief, that's cold!

-How are your feet feeling, Tim?

They're very, very cold. Very cold. I've got goosebumps.

Gosh, this is cold! This is really cold.

You're already starting to show a lot of stress from the cold.

-I'm really shivering below more than above.

-More than above?

There's a lot of pain in my ankles and my knees.

Do you feel able to take another step?

I could probably take one more.

OK, tell me what your heart rate's doing now.

-It's gone up. It's up at 114.

-And Wim?

-62.

-OK, Tim, I think this is getting potentially

a little bit too dangerous. Putting too much strain on your heart.

-Can you come on out and get in the bath now?

-Yeah.

Yeah, I'm coming.

That was really cold.

What's really strange is,

I completely lost the feeling in my feet.

To swim safely in freezing water,

you'd need a specialised semi-dry wet suit made from 7mm thick rubber.

Tim may not be superhuman but at least he has a cool suit!

Wim, let's do this! Let me just get this right.

Even in the super suit, there are still some risks?

Yes, this is still potentially very dangerous.

-OK, boys, off you go.

-Good luck, Wim.

-Good luck.

Wow.

Wim is going in fast.

-Are you ready?

-I'm totally ready.

I'm going "Wimming". This is swimming with Wim.

It's the moment of truth, Wim is going to attempt

a 300 metre swim in freezing cold water.

A normal human being could suffer deadly body shock

in water this cold.

Wim should not be able to submerge his body in this

without seriously risking his health.

I can't believe what Wim is doing.

He's rewriting all the text books. It's truly amazing.

Wim is looking entirely comfortable,

as if he was swimming in his local swimming pool.

How are you feeling, Wim?

OK. In control. It's beautiful!

He's not really displaying any signs of being incredibly cold.

This is just remarkable. We've got an iceberg right behind Wim.

Wim, how are you feeling?

-I feel great.

-You feel great?

-Yeah.

Boys, you're now halfway. five minutes in.

You're feeling absolutely fine?

-I'm totally OK.

-You genuinely feel OK?

Yeah, really.

In this freezing cold water,

I would expect to be pulling him out because his heart had

gone into such funny rhythms that we were at risk of him dying.

When you know how to deal with the cold,

the cold will make you stronger. That's it.

Boys, can you start coming back towards me?

We're eight minutes in now.

I can still feel how cold the water is,

-even when it comes into the wet suit.

-OK.

-It's quite amazing.

-Cold is a force.

There's no possibility that he should still be swimming, chatting.

It's remarkable.

After ten minutes, Wim Hof has achieved the impossible.

He's survived a swim in a freezing glacial lake

that should be fatal to any normal human being.

Look at this.

You've got goosebumps though. You do have goosebumps!

Oh, no. You don't have goosebumps.

That was extraordinary.

Well done.

INDISTINCT CHAT

OK, you've seen it here.

We've been out in a glacial lagoon in just above freezing temperature.

I've had to put on this unbelievable wet suit

to try and get out there with Wim.

Wim has been out just in his swimming trunks and he shows no visible

signs of cold, no visible signs of any medical problem at all.

This is absolutely extraordinary.

I came to Iceland to find a superhero.

A real life Iceman, a man who doesn't feel the cold.

I found one. Wim Hof, you are superhuman!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd