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PROFESSOR: If I went out for
a run now dressed like this,

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you would probably
call me nuts, right?

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Because it's so
cold outside that

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I'd probably dye of hypothermia.

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However, in 2009 Wim
Hof managed to run

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a full marathon in
minus 30 degrees

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Celsius wearing
nothing but shorts.

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While most people
would probably die,

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Wim Hof has been
able to survive.

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So, what makes Wim Hof able
to survive where others can't?

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To research him,
researchers in Netherlands

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subject him to icy bath
for almost two hours.

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While most people would have
their core body temperature

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drop to below 35 degrees
causing hypothermia to kick in.

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Wim Hof's Body temperature
drop to merely 37.4 degrees

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Celsius, staying
surprisingly warm.

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And the funny thing is that
the researchers couldn't

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find exactly what had happened.

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Maybe it's his genetic
ancestry that saves him.

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In a separate study,
scientists have

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found that individuals
with [? Cocam ?] ancestry

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have mitochondria that can
produce more heat and less

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chemical energy.

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Mitochondria is
like a mini furnace

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that burns the sugars
from the food we eat

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into chemical and heat energy.

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Individuals like this
would have been better

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able to survive the cold.

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However, scientists haven't
fully studied Wim Hof's genome,

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so we don't really know.

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Wim Hof practices
g-tummo, a Tibetan form

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of meditation and
breathing which allows

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him to double his metabolism.

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Remember those mitochondria
I mentioned before?

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Wim Hof can produce enough
heat through his mitochondria

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with specific
breathing and muscle

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contractions that can
produce enough heat

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to keep his body warm.

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Well, you might believe
that this is nonscientific.

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However, studies
at NUS have shown

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these participants increased
their core body temperature

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using g-tummo, and they had no
prior meditation experience.

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Now, why could this be so?

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Increases in alpha and
beta waves are noticed,

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and many have theorized that
this has enabled the body

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to effectively heat the center
as well as distribute heat

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to the extremities.

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We do not fully understand
Wim Hof's methods.

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And while some have tried
to follow in his footsteps,

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it would be unwise
to do the same.

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And Wim Hof even claims
that he can control

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other parts of his body.

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Now if this is true, and
scientifically backed,

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who knows what
doors it could open?

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While science hasn't explained
it all yet, and I myself

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don't buy these
Wim Hof's methods.

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Maybe I'd better be off
donning more jackets.