If You Can’t Take Cold Showers but Still Want the Health Benefits, Do This Instead
It’s been proven to get even better results
They asked her to first hold a tarantula in the palm of her hand.
Then they showed her around a haunted house and asked her to watch a horror movie. Nothing happened.
Then they asked her to hold a snake.
Still nothing.
Not even being held up at gunpoint affected her.
She was seemingly unshakeable.
The woman in question is known scientifically as S.M (or SM-046), and she suffers from a rare disease called Urbach-Wiethe disease.
This genetic disorder causes the amygdala — a brain region crucial for processing fear — to degenerate. At a certain point, a person loses the ability to feel fear. Hence why nothing scared her.
Before S.M. left for the day, there was one more experiment the scientists wanted to try out.
As she sat down in her chair, she pulled a mask over her head and continued to breathe normally. Then the scientists went to work.
After about 30 seconds or so, all of a sudden, her eyes flung open wide.
She was panicking.
The scientists had slowly started to increase carbon dioxide levels, and the feeling it evoked in S.M. was one of suffocation. She was in distress.
She thought her life was about to end.
This was the first time S.M. had felt fear in her whole life, and it was thanks to a chemical that she breathes in and out of her body every 3-4 seconds or so.
So what happened, why did it have such a big impact, and what can we learn going forward?
The urge to breathe doesn’t stem from a lack of oxygen, but from a buildup of carbon dioxide. This urge is regulated by a cluster of neurons at the base of the brainstem known as central chemoreceptors. When CO₂ levels rise due to shallow breathing (or no breathing at all), these receptors signal the body to breathe faster or deeper.
When the body can’t, people normally start panicking pretty quickly.
S.M. wasn’t suffocating (her oxygen levels were more than high enough), but she thought she was because carbon dioxide levels were rising and triggering the need to breathe, but she couldn’t.
This experiment highlighted two things:
Inhaling carbon dioxide is the only way to scare people with Urbach-Wiethe disease.
The amygdala, while important for fear-related external threats (like a knife), other brain areas, such as the brainstem, are involved in triggering fear responses to internal threats, like suffocation or chemical imbalances.
Enter Wim Hof
In more recent studies, people like Wim Hof have shown they can access the brainstem and radically change their response to stress and fear. (This was thought to be impossible before.)
One of the ways Wim Hof has trained his mind and body to do this is by entering cold water.
“Cold is a stressor, so if you are able to get into the cold and control your body’s response to it, you will be able to control stress.” — Wim Hof
However, taking cold showers or jumping into freezing cold lakes isn’t for everyone. I’ve lost count of the number of people who have messaged me saying, “I’m into the breathing thing, but I cannot think of anything worse than taking a cold shower.”
I totally understand. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Luckily, there is an alternative, and you can still reap the same rewards without freezing your ass off.
Before I dive into what it is, let’s look at why the cold has such a good impact on health, as it will lay the foundations for what’s to come.
The health benefits of deliberate cold exposure
Epigenetic changes — When we go into environments that are either radically colder (or hotter) than normal, certain genes “switch on” or “off.” Cold exposure can upregulate certain genes related to metabolism, inflammation control, and resilience, for example, but modern comforts sometimes dull (or lay dormant) these adaptive mechanisms. Cold training reactivates them.
Mitochondrial and hormonal effects — Regular cold training can improve mitochondrial function (our cells’ energy factories) and stimulate hormones that support immunity, mood, and fat-burning (like norepinephrine).
There are few things that come anywhere close to achieving these kinds of results. The only one that I know of and have experience with is breathwork, and in particular, breath holds within certain techniques.
Breathing is accessible to all, regardless of age, gender, race, wealth, or location. It’s completely free and requires nothing more than a willing set of lungs.
That’s why I’m so passionate about it.
The power of mini breath holds
Holding the breath activates the same primal parts of the brain that come online in extreme temperatures.
A man who knew this better than most was a Ukrainian scientist called Konstantin Buteyko.
The Buteyko Method is more methodical and scientific than other pranayama exercises and breathwork techniques, but ever since the 1960’s, he’s had incredible success — curing pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, chronic fatigue, hypertension, diabetes, and depression, among others.
People came to him for all kinds of ailments, but he always started in the same place. He got them to breathe in and hold their breath while he timed how long before they needed to breathe again.
He later called this test The Control Pause Test.
Here it is. Give it a try.
The Control Pause Test
Sit down and breathe normally through your nose.
After a normal exhale, pinch your nose and hold your breath.
Time how long it takes before you comfortably need to breathe in again.
Inhale gently through your nose and resume normal breathing.
If you gasp or feel strained, you’ve gone too far.
Try it once more now that you’re familiar with the method.
How did you get on?
“Having a control pause of less than 25 seconds is poor and 25 seconds to 35 seconds means there is room for improvement. The goal is to reach a comfortable breath hold time of 40 seconds.” — The Buteyko Clinic
Konstantin Buteyko advised doing this first thing in the morning, when the body is most relaxed, and repeating it 4–5 times throughout the day. This allowed his patients to track how their breathing shifted in response to different emotions, activities, and times of day.
The way he tracked their progress over time was simple: if their control pause increased, so too did their lung strength. And with stronger lungs comes better health and often, a longer, more vibrant life.
He found this technique to be especially valuable for those dealing with asthma or other respiratory conditions.
The power of long breath holds
There are a couple of other breathwork techniques that focus on exhale breath retention. Wim Hof is one of them. Soma Breath is another.
Practice either one consistently, and they have been shown to:
Stimulate red blood cell and blood vessel production
Improve chronic lung conditions and inflammation
Aid in recovery from bronchial asthma, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and depression; And
Support people suffering from Parkinson’s and radiation toxicity
Personally, I credit this practice with much of my own healing. Years of anxiety had left my gut inflamed. But with daily breathwork, cold water immersion, meditation, and dietary changes, my nervous system rebalanced and my gut lining healed. That’s why I’m so passionate about sharing this technique.
In the East, it’s known as nisshesha rechaka pranayama. In the West, it’s known as intermittent hypoxic training (IHT).
This is how it works.
Imagine a scale where oxygen is on one side and carbon dioxide is on the other. After 40 deep breaths (this is one round of breathing), oxygen levels in the blood are high, but CO₂ levels are low — so low, in fact, that oxygen isn’t easily released from the hemoglobin in red blood cells.
When we then hold the breath, oxygen is trapped inside the body, and CO₂ levels slowly rise. This triggers the release of oxygen into the tissues and brings fresh energy and nutrients.
It’s similar to how fasting from food works. The body initially protests, but then taps into its reserves, triggering detoxification and regeneration. Similarly, IHT stimulates the body’s innate healing mechanisms — both internally at the cellular level and externally in how we respond to the world.
Holding your breath for 90 seconds or more produces the best effect. This is when those reserves start to get tapped.
Two to three rounds are recommended as a daily practice.
Cool fact: The longest breath hold stands at 24 minutes 37 seconds and is held by a professional freediver called Budimir Šobat
S.M. discovered that when the breath changes, things can get very real very quickly. But that was out of her control. When we hold our breath intentionally, we are fully present and in control so we can access the brainstem with awareness. This can start to reprogram our fear and stress response and thus help us live healthier, happier, and more peaceful lives.
With enough practice, we can even boost the immune system, strengthen the cardiovascular system, and increase lung volume and lung capacity.
So, let’s put it into practice.
Intermittent Hypoxic Training
Please note: Only practice this 90 minutes before or after a meal.
Lie down in a comfortable position
Relax your hands and feet. Let your palms and soles face upward
Inhale deeply and smoothly through your nose
Exhale fully through your mouth — empty your lungs completely
Repeat this for 40 breaths (deep inhale + full exhale)
On the 40th breath, exhale completely and hold your breath as long as you comfortably can (even when it gets uncomfortable)
When you can’t hold any longer, inhale deeply and hold that breath for 10–20 seconds
Repeat the full cycle 2 more times (total of 3 rounds)
When you’re finished, lie still, relax, and meditate. Tune into any shifts in your mind or body
Something to keep in mind
S.M. found out how uncomfortable high levels of carbon dioxide can be. This practice activates the same internal mechanisms. As you continue to hold your breath, you might experience heat beginning to rise in your body. Your body might become jittery, too. At times, you could even experience convulsions. This is all perfectly normal and totally safe.
When the breath stops, the brain sends signals to the body to get it breathing again as it thinks its life is in danger. It’s not, but it’s not shy about making those signals loud, obvious, and uncomfortable.
The truth is that even if you reach the point of having convulsions, you’re minutes away from death. As long as you’re in a safe environment where you can’t bang your head (avoid breathing in water at all times), you can play around. You can get comfortable with being uncomfortable and access the deepest parts of your brain and nervous system. You can begin to change the biochemistry in your body and become your own pharmacist.
Or as Wim Hof likes to say: You can “get high on your own supply.”
One last thing
Niraj Naik (founder of Soma Breath — my favourite kind of breathwork) used breathing in combination with time in the sauna.
He was suffering from ulcerative colitis at the time, which is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that (as of yet) doesn’t have a cure. He used his breath along with extreme heat to heal himself. He then created Soma Breath because he wanted to help others who were also in need.
So if cold water isn’t your thing, maybe saunas are instead. Instead of freezing your ass off, you can sweat.
Combining breathing exercises with either cold or heat exposure doubles down on the health benefits. It feels great, too, so it’s a win-win from both angles.
As with anything, listen to your body, trust your intuition, and follow your needs.