Ask Wim Hof and Dr Havenith transcript
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| This event took place Wednesday 13th March, 2002 |
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Wim Hof and Dr Havenith
Ice Man Wim Hof and physiologist Dr George Havenith joined us for a Live Chat after the "ice sit-in" on Tomorrow's World and answered your questions ...
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Question from Pete: What damage can this type of thing do to the body?
Dr Havenith: In an average person, the major surge of blood pressure you would experience in the first couple of minutes could actually damage your cardiovascular system. So if you had a weak blood vessel somewhere in your body, for instance in your brain, that could burst. In the longer term, when you cool down further, the actual low temperature becomes a problem. If you cool down below 33 degrees centigrade, your heart might start beating irregularly, and that would cause problems. Especially for people becoming hypothermic in water, this is very risky, because that would be a reason for them to drown.
Question from Alan Barnish: Is it possible for everyone to learn this level of mind control?
Dr Havenith: No definitely not. Adaptation to cold varies dramatically between people. Whereas some people have the capacity to adjust their body and their mind to cope with the cold, many of us cannot.
Question from Daniel Pope: How long will Wim's body take to get back to normal temperature?
Dr Havenith: Because his body temperature actually stays quite high, above 35 degrees centigrade, and as he was shivering quite vigorously when he came out, I would expect his body temperature to be back up within an hour or so.
Question from Steven Dudson: How do you train to be able to withstand these sort of temperatures?
Dr Havenith: You can only train by actually exposing yourself to those temperatures. You really need to stretch your body regularly to induce the responses Wim showed.
Question from Ben Tristem: Dr Havenith, how would you expect a fit and determined, but otherwise unprepared, individual to respond in the same situation?
Dr Havenith: The main thing I would expect is that even though the person is determined, the pain he has never experienced before would force him to stop quite soon. Apart from that, even a fit person unaccustomed to the cold would not be able to produce as much heat in his body as Wim does.
Question from Alek Hayes: Is there a possibility of your ... you know ... extremities ... getting hurt or damaged?
Dr Havenith: Yes. In Wim's case that actually is part of his acclimatisation to cold that he can protect his extremities. If unaccustomed to this cold, your extremities in the ice might actually cool so far that you might actually experience frostbite.
Question from Gary Waldron: Could he have stayed in for much longer?
Dr Havenith: Given that his body temperature was still about 35 degrees centigrade, he could have stayed a lot longer before his life would really be at risk. However, for reasons of safety, it was decided beforehand, to stop the exposure at a body temperature of 35 degrees centigrade. Given that, I would have expected him to last another twenty minutes before he would have reached the limit that was set by the BBC.
Question from Khalid: What do you think of to help the time pass and to ignore the pain?
Wim Hof: I just focused and get it all away, and go for my record. Show that we can do more than we think.
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