Compare: Langzaam ademhalen versus de Wim Hof-methode

⚠ Safety: the Wim Hof breathing belongs on dry land. See Cautions.

How They Compare

What Each Does To Your Physiology

Slow breathing works by resonance. At about six breaths a minute the breath synchronizes with the baroreflex, the roughly five-second loop that adjusts heart rate to changes in blood pressure. The two rhythms reinforce each other, the heart rate swings wide, and the calming, parasympathetic branch of the nervous system dominates. That coupling peaks near six a minute and fades as the rate climbs toward a normal 12 to 16. The shared mechanism is set out on resonance and entrainment, and the practice with its protocol on breathwork and HRV.

The Wim Hof Method drives the reverse state. Rounds of forced fast breathing lower carbon dioxide into respiratory alkalosis, and the breath holds add brief drops in oxygen. The combination produces a surge of adrenaline, a sympathetic, aroused state. Brain scans of the method (Muzik 2018) point to a driver in the brain, not just a peripheral reflex. Those control centers dull how strongly cold is felt and hold attention steady under a harsh stimulus. The two practices move the nervous system in opposite directions.

Anxiety And Stress

A systematic review of slow breathing in healthy people found it reliably shifts them toward calm, less anxiety, arousal, and low mood, with a rise in heart rate variability. One trial pitted the two directly against each other in 84 women with high stress and depressive symptoms. Over three weeks both produced about equal reductions: depressive symptoms down roughly 24 percent, anxiety about 27 percent, and perceived stress about 20 percent, all sustained at three months.

The Wim Hof arm showed one edge, a bigger drop in rumination after stressful days. The authors caution that it needs repeating before it can be trusted: all six dropouts came from that arm, and participants rated the slow-breathing control as more credible.

Blood Pressure And Heart Rate Variability

Slow breathing has the clearer claim here. In people with high blood pressure, breathing at six a minute dropped systolic pressure from about 150 to 141 mmHg on the spot, and nearly doubled baroreflex sensitivity. That in-session drop is a free, self-directed lever, worth trying before a first blood-pressure prescription. Practiced near the resonance rate, usually with HRV biofeedback, it pushes heart rate variability up. That yields a small-to-moderate benefit for stress and anxiety, one of its bigger measured effects. The long-term picture from daily home practice is weaker. A pooled analysis of device-guided breathing found no significant lasting reduction in blood pressure, so the strongest evidence is the immediate in-session drop.

The Wim Hof Method is not a blood-pressure practice. Its active phase raises the body's arousal and briefly raises blood pressure, whereas slow breathing lowers it.

Energy And The Immune Response

The most distinctive Wim Hof finding is short-lived and involves the immune system. Trained volunteers raised adrenaline enough to blunt the inflammatory response to an injected bacterial toxin. They showed more of the anti-inflammatory signal IL-10, less of the pro-inflammatory TNF, IL-6, and IL-8, and fewer flu-like symptoms. The effect repeats in other trials, and it appears only against that kind of sudden immune challenge.

The wider claims for lasting energy and focus are less settled. The performance trials so far are small, often 10 to 40 people, and their results are mixed. No study has shown the boost people feel is more than the placebo effect plus the method's strong appeal. Slow breathing makes no comparable immune claim; what it has been shown to do is calm the nerves, improve sleep, and lower blood pressure.

The Safety Split

The two are not equally risky. Slow, quiet breathing is very low risk and suits nearly everyone. The Wim Hof breathing runs three or four rounds of about 30 rapid breaths, each capped by a breath hold. That combination carries one specific hazard around water, set out under Cautions.

In water it can be fatal, so keep the fast breathing and any breath hold away from the pool, the bath and open water.

The Research & Studies

Everything here is based on the research we have collected and checked, sorted into groups and ordered with the strongest evidence first. Click any claim to open the studies behind it.

Mood & stress

Slow breathing leaves people calmer and less anxiousModerate

In plain terms

Breathing slowly, under about ten breaths a minute, moves the nervous system toward its calm setting and leaves people feeling steadier, with less anxiety and less arousal.

In detail

A systematic review of fifteen studies in healthy people, drawn from an initial pool of 2,461 abstracts, found slow breathing techniques consistently raise heart rate variability and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, mark a rise in EEG alpha and a fall in theta, and pair with self-reported gains in comfort, vigor and alertness and drops in anxiety, anger, depression and confusion. The review reports a direction of effect, not a single pooled number, so the size varies with the technique and how long it is practiced.

Who this may not transfer to:The review does not report a sex breakdown across its included studies, so any difference in the effect between women and men is untested.

The study · 1

Zaccaro et al., How breath-control can change your life: a systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing · Front Hum Neurosci 2018;12:353

Head to head, the two eased depression, anxiety and stress about equally in 84 womenEmerging · no effect

In plain terms

When the two were tested against each other, they eased depression, anxiety and stress by about the same amount, and both effects lasted three months; the Wim Hof group ruminated a little less after stressful days.

In detail

A randomized controlled trial assigned 84 midlife women with high stress and high depressive symptoms to either a Wim Hof Method condition (intermittent-hypoxia breathing plus cold showers) or an active control (slow-paced breathing plus warm showers), each with 15 minutes of daily audio for three weeks. Both groups improved equally: depressive symptoms fell about 24 percent, anxiety about 27 percent and perceived stress about 20 percent, sustained at three months, with comparable reductions in cortisol reactivity to a lab stressor. The Wim Hof arm had a greater reduction in rumination after daily stressors, a finding the authors say needs replication. All six dropouts were from the Wim Hof arm, and participants rated the slow-breathing control as more credible.

Who this may not transfer to:Tested only in midlife women with high stress and depressive symptoms, so whether the two practices stay equivalent in men, or in people without these symptoms, is untested.

How to use it

Because the two eased mood equally, the practical choice is not which works better for mood but which state you want and which you will actually keep up: slow breathing for calm and recovery, the Wim Hof style for a stimulating challenge, kept out of the water.

The study · 1

Blades et al., a randomized controlled clinical trial of a Wim Hof Method intervention in women with high depressive symptoms · Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol 2024;20:100272

Heart And Vascular

Breathing at six a minute drops systolic pressure from about 150 to 141 mmHg on the spotModerate

In plain terms

Slowing the breath to about six a minute drops blood pressure while you do it, by roughly nine points on the top number in people with high blood pressure.

In detail

In a controlled laboratory study of 20 people with essential hypertension and 26 controls, breathing at six breaths a minute reduced systolic pressure from 149.7 to 141.1 mmHg and diastolic from 82.7 to 77.8 mmHg, and raised arterial baroreflex sensitivity from 5.8 to 10.3 ms/mmHg, all measured on the spot without inducing hyperventilation. The lasting effect of home practice is less settled: a meta-analysis of 22 trials in 17,214 people found device-guided slow breathing did not significantly reduce blood pressure over time, with high heterogeneity between studies, so the strongest evidence is for the immediate in-session drop, not a large chronic change.

Who this may not transfer to:The study does not report its results split by sex, so whether the size of the blood-pressure drop differs for women and men is untested.

The studies · 2

Joseph et al., slow breathing improves arterial baroreflex sensitivity and decreases blood pressure in essential hypertension · Hypertension 2005;46(4):714-718

de Freitas Goncalves et al., device and nondevice-guided slow breathing to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis · Health Sci Rep 2022;5(3):e636

Anxiety And Stress

Slow breathing near six a minute drives heart rate variability up and eases anxietyModerate

In plain terms

Practicing slow breathing near six a minute swings the heart rate into big smooth waves and gives a small to moderate drop in stress and anxiety, which is one of its strongest measured effects.

In detail

A systematic review and meta-analysis pooling 58 randomized studies found heart rate variability biofeedback, which trains breathing near each person's resonance rate, produced small to moderate improvements across stress, anxiety and related outcomes, with anxiety among the larger effects. The authors note the number of studies per condition is small and call for confirmation. The mechanism is separate physiological work, not part of the pooled trials.

Who this may not transfer to:The meta-analysis does not report participant sex, so any difference in the effect between women and men is untested.

The study · 1

Lehrer et al., heart rate variability biofeedback improves emotional and physical health and performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis · Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 2020;45(3):109-129

How it works

Slow breathing at six a minute resonates with the baroreflex and settles the nervous systemModerate · mixed

In plain terms

Breathing at about six a minute lines up with the body's blood-pressure control loop, which is why the heart rate swings wide and the nervous system settles.

In detail

The baroreflex takes about five seconds to complete a cycle, giving it a natural frequency near 0.1 Hz, which is six cycles a minute. Breathing at that rate couples the breathing rhythm to the pressure-control loop so the two reinforce each other, driving heart-rate oscillations far larger than at rest and raising baroreflex gain. This is a mechanism of resonance and parasympathetic engagement, the opposite direction of travel from a practice built on arousal. The shared physiology behind it is set out on the resonance and entrainment page.

The study · 1

Lehrer & Gevirtz, heart rate variability biofeedback: how and why does it work? (the baroreflex mechanism) · Front Psychol 2014;5:756

The Wim Hof Method drives an aroused, sympathetic state through fast breathing, breath holds and coldEmerging · mixed

In plain terms

The Wim Hof Method uses fast forced breathing, breath holds and cold to switch the body into an aroused, stimulated state, which is the reverse of what slow breathing does.

In detail

Brain imaging of the method's originator alongside a control group found the practice activates the periaqueductal gray, a control center for descending pain and cold signals that can trigger a stress-induced analgesic response, and higher-order insula regions tied to focused attention under aversive input. Whole-body PET during cold found forceful breathing raised sympathetic activity and heat production in the intercostal muscles, while brown-fat activation was unremarkable. The authors read this as evidence that the brain, more than the periphery, drives the cold tolerance. The core imaging rests on a single practitioner, so it describes a plausible mechanism, not a group-level fact.

Who this may not transfer to:The core imaging comes from a single male practitioner, so whether the same brain response occurs in women, or in typical practitioners, is untested.

The study · 1

Muzik, Reilly & Diwadkar, brain over body: a study on the willful regulation of autonomic function during cold exposure · Neuroimage 2018;172:632-641

Sleep

Twenty minutes of slow breathing before bed helped insomniacs fall asleep fasterEmerging

In plain terms

Doing about twenty minutes of slow breathing before bed helped people with insomnia fall asleep faster and wake up less during the night.

In detail

In a controlled study of 14 self-reported insomniacs and 14 good sleepers, the insomniacs showed reduced high-frequency (vagal) heart rate variability at baseline. Practicing slow paced breathing at 0.1 Hz for 20 minutes before sleep raised total heart rate variability and, on polysomnography, shortened sleep onset latency, reduced the number and duration of awakenings, and increased sleep efficiency. It is a small early study, so the effect is emerging, not settled.

Who this may not transfer to:The study does not report a sex split, so whether the sleep benefit differs for women and men is untested.

The study · 1

Tsai et al., efficacy of paced breathing for insomnia: enhances vagal activity and improves sleep quality · Psychophysiology 2015;52(3):388-396

Immune Function

Wim Hof training let 12 volunteers blunt the inflammation response to an injected toxinEmerging

In plain terms

People trained in the method released a burst of adrenaline that quieted the body's inflammation reaction to an injected bacterial toxin, and they felt fewer flu-like symptoms.

In detail

In a randomized trial, 12 healthy volunteers were trained for ten days in meditation, cyclic hyperventilation followed by breath retention, and cold immersion, while 12 controls were not. All then received intravenous E. coli endotoxin. Practicing the techniques produced intermittent respiratory alkalosis and hypoxia and profoundly increased plasma epinephrine, which correlated with a faster and higher rise in the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 and with lower levels of the pro-inflammatory mediators TNF, IL-6 and IL-8, plus fewer flu-like symptoms. It is a single small trial in a laboratory challenge, so it demonstrates an acute mechanism, not a proven treatment for any inflammatory disease.

Who this may not transfer to:The trial reports healthy volunteers without a stated sex split, so whether the immune effect differs by sex is untested.

The study · 1

Kox et al., voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system and attenuation of the innate immune response in humans · Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2014;111(20):7379-7384

Cognition

The Wim Hof Method's clearest signal is lower inflammation, not the energy and focus fans describePreliminary · mixed

In plain terms

The energy and focus that fans describe are not yet established: the trials point most clearly to a short-term inflammation effect, while the performance results are mixed.

In detail

A systematic review following PRISMA identified nine papers covering eight trials of the full method. The most consistent finding was reduced inflammation, driven by the adrenaline surge that raises IL-10 and lowers pro-inflammatory cytokines. Effects on exercise performance were mixed, and effects on respiratory measures such as minute ventilation and tidal volume were mixed following bouts of exercise. The review calls for further study in people with inflammatory disorders. The subjective energy and focus that practitioners report have not been isolated from expectancy and the strong appeal of the method and its instructor.

Who this may not transfer to:The review does not break its included trials down by sex, so any difference in these outcomes between women and men is untested.

The study · 1

Almahayni & Hammond, does the Wim Hof Method have a beneficial impact on physiological and psychological outcomes in healthy and non-healthy participants? A systematic review · PLoS One 2024;19(3):e0286933

When To Choose Which

Choose slow breathing, near six a minute, when you want to come down. It costs nothing, needs only a clock, and carries almost no risk, so it is the default for:

• anxiety and everyday nervous-system balance,
• winding down toward sleep,
• lowering blood pressure in the moment,
• a daily habit of steadying yourself.

Choose the Wim Hof Method when you want a stimulating challenge: a jolt of morning alertness, cold adaptation, or its short-term immune and adrenaline effects. Treat it as the arousal practice it is, keep the fast breathing on dry land and off the road, and build up slowly. Many people use both, slow breathing in the evening to recover and settle, the Wim Hof style earlier in the day for a deliberate charge.

Go Deeper

• Breathwork and HRV: the slow-breathing practice in full, with the protocol and what a heart rate variability reading means.
• Resonance and entrainment: the mechanism behind the heart-breath coupling both practices touch.
• Cold exposure: the cold half of the Wim Hof Method, on its own terms.
• Anxiety: where slow breathing sits among the things that help, at its measured size.
• Insomnia: where a pre-sleep breathing habit fits among the things that improve sleep.

Cautions

Extra restraint

Everything to be aware of is here, in one place. This practice suits most healthy people; a few situations call for real care.

Fast breathing before a breath hold in water can cause a fatal underwater blackout

A New York State case review of drownings from 1988 to 2011 identified 16 cases linked to what the authors named dangerous underwater breath-holding behaviors, including intentional hyperventilation before submersion; two healthy young men died in a single 2011 incident after hyperventilating before going underwater. The mechanism is hypoxic blackout: because the drive to breathe is triggered by rising carbon dioxide, not falling oxygen, pre-breathing that strips out carbon dioxide delays that drive until oxygen has dropped enough to cause loss of consciousness, often with no warning. On land this is manageable; underwater it leads to drowning. This is why the fast cyclic breathing and any breath hold belong away from the pool, the bath and open water.Boyd et al. (CDC), fatal and nonfatal drowning outcomes related to dangerous underwater breath-holding behaviors, New York State, 1988-2011

The Wim Hof breathing and water

A round of fast, deep breathing before a breath hold clears out carbon dioxide without adding much oxygen. The urge to breathe comes from rising carbon dioxide, so after that flush it may not arrive until oxygen has dropped far enough to black out, with little warning. On land that is manageable. In water it can be fatal, so keep the fast breathing and any breath hold away from the pool, the bath and open water. Reviews of real drownings, swimmers who over-breathed and then held their breath, are why this is a hard rule.

A second person, on land

Loss of consciousness during heavy breathing or a breath hold can happen even out of the water. Do the Wim Hof breathing sitting or lying on a soft surface, ideally with someone nearby, and never while driving or standing.

Pregnancy

Slow, quiet breathing is fine in pregnancy. Deliberate over-breathing lowers carbon dioxide enough to narrow the vessels feeding the uterus, established obstetric physiology. The forceful cyclic breathing has not been studied in pregnancy, so set it aside.

Heart, epilepsy and other conditions

The forceful breath holds and hyperventilation rounds drive large swings in blood pressure and blood chemistry. If you have uncontrolled high blood pressure, a recent cardiac event, aortic disease or epilepsy, talk to a doctor before taking the Wim Hof Method up. Slow paced breathing at six a minute is the gentle practice studied in these conditions, and is a different matter.

Slow breathing is safe for most

Slow, quiet breathing at about six a minute carries almost no risk for healthy people. If breathing feels like effort, take smaller breaths at the same slow rate, since forcing the volume tips slow breathing into over-breathing.

Start slow, be smart, read the research, and consult a professional if you have any concerns. This is here to inform your choice, not make it for you.

Common Questions

Which one helps with sleep?

Slow breathing. About twenty minutes of slow paced breathing before bed helped people with insomnia fall asleep faster, wake less during the night, and sleep more efficiently. Vagal heart rate variability, the calming side, rose alongside. The Wim Hof Method points the other way, toward arousal, so for sleep the slow, quiet evening version is the one to use.