Were you initially amazed at how long you could hold your breath in Wim Hof breathing? You may have read that if you practice more, you can hold your breath longer. Maybe you have also noticed, that in the long run it is the other way around. If so, you are like me once and other Wim Hof enthusiasts, who ask me why their breath holds are getting shorter over time.
I love Wim Hof breathing and there are many good reasons to be enthusiastic about it. It has been shown to reduce inflammation levels, increase white blood cell counts, relieve symptoms of autoimmune diseases, deepen the mind-body connection, etc. However, if your goal is to breathe more slowly in everyday life, or even to get really good at breath-holding, then the Wim Hof Breathing is NOT the ideal method to achieve this. There are at least three reasons for this:
1. Fast, voluminous Breathing can reduce CO2 Tolerance
If we want to adopt a healthy breathing pattern or improve our ability to hold our breath - for example, to be able to stay underwater longer while snorkeling or freediving - then we need to increase our CO2 tolerance. This means getting our body used to high CO2 concentrations. We can voluntarily increase the CO2 concentration in our blood by breathing slower and lighter or by entirely holding our breath.
Thus, the slower we breathe in general and the more often we consciously hold our breath, the more our body gets used and learns to deal with elevated CO2 levels and the associated decreased blood pH levels. Over time, our chemoreceptors react less quickly and the urge to breathe sets in more slowly.
The opposite is also true: if we generally breathe fast, we thereby lower our average blood CO2 level. Our chemoreceptors become accustomed to the low CO2 concentrations and associated increased pH levels. They then sound the alarm and trigger the urge breathe more quickly when CO2 levels increase and pH decreases.
So, when we breathe a Wim Hof round, we MASSIVELY lower the CO2 level in the blood by breathing fast and voluminously. If we hold our breath immediately afterwards, the urge to breathe is delayed and we can hold our breath longer than after breathing normally. You may know that pleasant, light feeling of not needing to breathe.
Measurements in studies show that subjects' CO2 levels are usually lower at the end of three rounds of Wim Hof breathing compared to when they started the session. That means, their breath holds after superventilation are not long enough to bring the CO2 back to the starting level. We can assume that this is the case for most of us, if we stop the breath hold more or less as soon as we feel the urge to breathe. This does not mean that a Wim Hof breathing session now and then will affect our CO2 tolerance. After all, CO2 tolerance is an average value. However, if we use the Wim Hof method on a daily basis over a longer period of time and also tend to be somewhat stressed in our daily lives and tend to breathe quickly and through the mouth, it is very likely that we will become increasingly sensitive to CO2 and thus experience shorter breath holds.
2. Stronger Breathing Muscles
Another obvious reason that this effect increases over time is that we become more and more efficient at superventilation. Wim Hof breathing strengthens our respiratory muscles from day to day, and we become more accustomed physically and also mentally to the symptoms of overbreathing (Hormesis). If in the beginning we felt dizzy and our whole body tingled when doing three rounds of Wim Hof Breathing, after a few days or weeks we can easily breathe through several rounds without any important symptoms. The easier it gets, the better we are able to lower our CO2 level again and again. If we don't pay attention to slow breathing or train our CO2 tolerance the rest of the day, there's a good chance it will decrease over time.
3. Dive Reflex
The third reason why we are less able to hold our breath over time is the link between high CO2 concentrations and the "Mamalian Dive Reflex" MDR. The mammalian dive reflex helps mammals, including us humans, to stay underwater longer without needing to breathe. There are several factors known to date, that trigger or support this reflex, such as water on the face and increased CO2 concentrations in the blood. All sorts of amazing things happen in our body, when this reflex is set in motion. First of all, our heartbeat is reduced and the whole metabolism is slowed down and with it the consumption of the oxygen reserves in the body. The mammalian reflex also kicks in, when we hold our breath on land, causing the CO2 concentrations in our blood to rise and the O2 Saturation to decrease. On the other hand, if we regularly superventilate à la Wim Hof and thus reduce our average CO2 level in the blood, we are likely to delay the Dive Reflex as well. Our metabolism is not slowed down to the same extent when we hold our breath, oxygen is consumed more quickly and it is less easy for us to hold our breath.
Breath holding also has a strong mental component, but without decent CO2 tolerance no one can breathe slowly in a relaxed way or hold its breath for a long time. So, in order to benefit from the positive effects of Wim Hof breathing and still being able to easily hold our breath, we need to pay attention to our CO2 tolerance. I do this myself by consistently breathing through the nose in everyday life and sports, and by training according to the Oxygen Advantage Method or with CO2 tables, as used in freediving. If you want to know, why CO2 tolerance not only helps with diving, but is a fundamental element for our health and for athletic and mental best performances, read in my blog article "How fit are you really?" Or: do you know your BOLT-value?".
By the way, what I love about the Oxygen Advantage exercises is, that they are simple and easy to incorporate into my daily routine and sports training. They require little to zero additional time. And together with the Wim Hof Method, they are a real power combo that supports me physically and mentally all across the board. Also in September 2022, I increased my personal record in static apnea to 4min 37sec. This was after little training in water and when I was “only” going for the 3min 30sec required for the AIDA 4 Freediving certificate.
Would you like to extend your breath holds again or make sure they stay consistently high? Then start today and observe your breathing in everyday life. Breathing lightly through the nose to the belly is key. Keep your mouth closed whenever possible, even when exercising. If you use the Wim Hof breathing exercises very often and find it difficult to hold your breath, reduce them temporarily until your breathing pauses become longer again. If you don't like to practice alone or want to improve more quickly, Oxygen Advantage private coaching sessions can help you. Otherwise, take your time, take it easy and trust that success will come if you stay loose, but don't let go! ;)
P.S. If you want to know more about how you actually breathe, day or night, take a closer look at the Oxa wearable. The cool and innovative thing about it is that it provides very accurate data about your breathing and, most importantly, it responds to your breathing. For example, if you want to time how long you can hold your breath, it stops and registers the time as soon as you start breathing again without you having to move. The accompanying Oxa app contains guided breathing exercises, CO2-tables for free dive training and provides you with important biofeedback data such as your heart rate variability HRV, number of breaths per minute or your stress level.
Links & Literature
Oxygen Advantage official Webseite where you find a range of online Trainings and products, which support healthy breathing.
Upcoming workshops with Helena, jala coaching
Book Oxygen Advantage. Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques to Help You Become Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter. Patrick McKeown, 2019
Book Breath. The New Science of a lost Art. James Nestor, 2021