Against her will

Section 1 Scaring makes people sick, and cold resistance makes people stronger.

Keeping healthy also means not getting sick. Then how can we effectively prevent diseases? I have been paying close attention to this aspect, and I often talk about this topic with several Stanford University alumni who are studying medicine. They told me that now more and more doctors are beginning to realize that the significance of treating diseases is not only to think about how to treat them after the body has a pathological reaction, but also to prevent diseases in advance, which is what China people often say.

I have been very afraid of the cold since I was a child. I lived in Shanghai when I was a child, because I was obviously influenced by the ocean on the edge of the mainland. The cold that seeps into the bone marrow in winter in my hometown makes me remember deeply. Later, my family immigrated to the United States and lived in California, which made me very happy, because California has four seasons like spring and warm winters.

Because of the cold, I even included the weather in my choice of university. I remember receiving formal admission notices from California Institute of Technology, Stanford University and Yale University. At that time, I still remember that a video introducing Yale University was put on the welcome meeting of Yale University: in April, all the students rushed out of the campus to ski, and the "snow trail" was on the road next to the campus. A large group of students were crying happily and rolling in the snow. When I saw this, my first thought was: it's already April, and it's actually skiing here. How cold it is! So I decided to give up Yale at that time. Although it is naive to recall this idea now, my fear of cold can be seen from this.

In 2003, after working at Intel for three years, I was admitted to Harvard Business School. When I first arrived in Boston, I was dumbfounded at once, because when I got off the plane, the chill on my face made me a little overwhelmed. In the same season, California on the west coast is already very warm. In the coldest morning, you can wear a thin coat at most, and you only need to wear T-shirts, slippers and shorts during the day. I didn't expect Boston on the east coast to be surprisingly cold! And the thickest clothes in my box are only a thin coat. I have no choice but to go to the school store to buy some thickest clothes.

So in the first semester of entering Harvard Business School, I wore the uniform of Harvard University inside and outside, and people who didn't know thought I was particularly fond of showing off or had a special sense of identity with Harvard. It's funny in retrospect, which also impressed me deeply with the cold in Boston. There are nearly six months of winter every year. From the end of 10 to April, there is a chance to see snowflakes floating in the sky. Sometimes in early April, the Harvard campus will be covered with a layer of Bo Xue. So I often joke with my classmates and say, "I like winter very much, but I only like the snowy winter on TV."

I don't get sick very often. Even if I get sick every year, I have a cold. Most colds are caused by catching cold, so I am particularly afraid of cold. On the other hand, if I catch a cold twice a year, the effective time will increase by two to three weeks, and I can do more things. So I think, should we have a deeper understanding of "cold" and have better prevention or adaptation?

"Cold" is actually a good means to prevent diseases. We should know that most diseases in the human body are caused by inflammatory reaction in the body, and colds have a good effect on inhibiting and eliminating inflammation. For the simplest example, if an athlete sprains, the doctor will always suggest ice compress first.

In the podcast of Tim Ferris, a famous American writer, he talked about spending a lot of time visiting strangers all over the world, one of whom was the famous Dutch "Iceman"-Wim Hof.

Who's Wim Hof? He is recognized as the strongest "Iceman" in the world and has unique cold resistance. Up to now, there are still more than 20 Guinness world records, such as the world record of the longest stay in ice water, which is 1 hour 52 minutes and 42 seconds. He also ran a complete marathon in the Arctic Circle of Finland in 5 hours and 25 minutes, wearing only shorts.

Why can Wimhoff repeatedly challenge the cold tolerance limit of human beings? Is it because of talent? I looked up many reports about him on the Internet, and later found that Wim Hof has two characteristics: first, he said that his cold tolerance was not born, but was cultivated through a series of self-created breathing and breathing methods, and he also said that anyone can learn this method and is very willing to teach others. Secondly, he very much hopes that scientists can study his own practices, so he is willing to let scientists conduct a series of investigations and studies on him.

Knowing this, I am more interested in Wim Hof, but my heart is also very contradictory. On the one hand, I really want to learn Wim Hof's unique cold-resistant methods and overcome the cold-fear psychology; On the other hand, I am a little scared, because I will probably face a worse cold than usual. If I fail, I will lose more. I believe many people will have this idea, because our understanding of "cold" is similar.

In the second quarter, I dive in the ice water with the "Iceman". I am not afraid of the cold.

The courses offered in Wim Hof have two time periods, one is in Spain every summer (July); The other is autumn and winter in Eastern Europe (65438+February), and each course lasts for 5 days. After careful consideration, I finally decided to give it a try and see if I could subvert my view of "cold". But I think if you choose autumn and winter, there is no doubt that the challenge will be more severe. As I am very afraid of cold, and this is my first attempt, I'd better choose summer courses first.

I am very interested in what he mentioned, but I also find it a bit ridiculous.

So, before going to Spain, I specially discussed this matter with several doctors and friends. Their point of view is that "cold" as a medical means, the clinical effect is definitely there. However, Wim Hof's personal experience and his idea of controlling adrenaline with his mind can't be explained from the medical point of view at present. Of course, they encouraged me to experience it and then come back to communicate with them.

So with some doubts, contradictions and longings, I embarked on the "Iceman Tour".

Wim Hof's summer courses are located in Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Parks near Barcelona. His first wife was Spanish and later died in middle age. When his wife was alive, the couple always liked to spend their holidays here, so Wim Hof was very familiar with this national park and had feelings for it.

This course has 20 participants from all over the world. For example, there is an "addiction" therapist from Saudi Arabia. His job is to treat all kinds of "addicts", such as tobacco addiction, alcohol addiction and even drug addiction. Generally speaking, the traditional practice of abstinence is to use different drugs for treatment, but often it can't completely solve the problem in the end, so this therapist wants to experience Wim Hof's special practice and see if it can help his work.

The reason for another student's participation is also interesting. She is a deep-sea diver from Japan. She is as afraid of cold as I am, but she has to go into the deep sea when she works. It is very cold there, so she wants to learn how to resist the cold.

To my surprise, nearly half of the trainees are women. I remember a relatively young girl applying to join the circus, and she wanted to exercise herself better through this experience. The other woman is a stay-at-home mother with two children at home. On her 40th birthday, her husband asked her what kind of birthday present she wanted. She said that she really wanted to experience the lessons in Wim Hof, so her husband gave her this special birthday present.

Soon, the course officially began. The first day is mainly to practice deep breathing. As we all know, the brain is one of the organs that most need oxygen. But we usually breathe shallowly, so there is relatively little oxygen distributed to the brain. Wim Hof's breathing method can make the brain get more oxygen, which can make people pay more attention. His theory is that humans can control their own body systems as long as they are focused enough.

Wim Hof's specific instructions are: slightly raise your head, inhale as much as possible, and after feeling the oxygen sent to your brain, start to exhale slowly, but don't exhale completely, then continue to inhale deeply and exhale half. After this cycle for 25 times, take five complete deep breaths to complete the first group of exhalation.

The second group breathes and inhales in different ways: first inhale deeply and feel oxygen enter the brain; Then hold your breath and feel that the oxygen in the brain is slowly pushed to every part of the body, especially the limbs; Then exhale slowly, and so on.

The place where we practice deep breathing is near a very big lake in the national park, and the scenery is very beautiful. When the two groups of breathing in and out are finished, I feel that the oxygen in my brain is much richer than in the past, so I can concentrate more.

After deep breathing exercises, Wim Hof stood up and greeted us and said, "Let's go to the lake together!" ! Then he jumped into the lake first, then many people rushed into the water, and I jumped in at that time. The water source of this lake comes from nearby mountain springs, so although it is summer, the lake is still cold. As soon as I went in, my brain was paralyzed and I had an impulse to run away.

Then I heard Wim Hof say to us in the water, "You can try another set of breaths in the water." So I tightened my body, calmed down and began to inhale and exhale slowly. I gradually feel that my body is a little out of touch with my brain: my body still feels cold, but my brain gradually focuses on the special feeling brought by oxygen.

The next morning, we still practiced breathing first, but at this time, an inflatable plastic pool was placed next to it, which was half filled with water, and then someone kept adding bags of ice cubes into it. After breathing, Wim Hof stood by the ice pool, looked at us and said, "Who wants to go in with me?" Looking at the pool full of ice, I flinched, but I looked up and saw Wim Hoff staring at me. I gritted my teeth, thinking forget it, throwing caution to the wind, and stood out with the other four boys and walked into the ice water with him.

As soon as I sat in, my body began to tremble unconsciously, and there was ice all around. I think I'm freezing! My body seems to protest to me: how can you be so stupid? Come out! At this moment, I heard Wim Hof say beside me, "Keep breathing. You can focus on your hands. As I said before, you can breathe by breathing and let the oxygen in your brain push to your limbs, especially your hands. "

I saw him talking to us calmly in the ice water and several other students sitting there motionless. I thought at that time, if it was humiliating to give up now, I would bite the bullet and stick to it, so I continued to breathe. Gradually, I felt that my body's cold feeling seemed to decrease gradually, and 5 minutes passed unconsciously. When I came out of the swimming pool, I found myself as red as a roast shrimp. I know that the rapid contraction of blood vessels leads to the acceleration of blood circulation, just like the acceleration of adrenaline secretion mentioned earlier, but I don't feel very tired, just feel very cold and my body is shaking uncontrollably.

Wim Hof came over and looked at me and said, "Try to keep breathing and see if your body can calm down." So I tried to keep breathing, and then I found that my body suddenly calmed down and my uncontrollable trembling disappeared. This experience is a bit shocking to me. For the first time, I found that the cold is not so terrible. The body can stimulate its internal potential through self-regulation and adapt itself to this temperature.

After coming out of the ice water for a period of time, I can obviously feel that my heart is slower than usual, my body can calm down completely, and my brain feels more awake than before. I am very happy to get such a breakthrough. Because just two days ago, I firmly believed that I hated the cold all my life and tried to stay away from it, but now I am willing to try and accept that the human body really has a lot of room to expand its potential.

In the afternoon, Wim Hof arranged for everyone to climb the mountain together. We came to a valley in the national park, which is surrounded by mountains on three sides and has a spring at the bottom. Wim Hof told us that we need to walk down the spring from a height, and there is no ready-made road. He said: "I know this distance is not difficult for everyone, but I have a special requirement, that is, we must walk barefoot." Feet are the most sensitive, but they are usually wrapped tightly and there is no chance to contact nature directly, so this time we will try to feel the surrounding natural environment with our feet without shoes. "Say that finish, he first took off his shoes and began to walk down the hill.

I'm really in distress situation. You know, for this course, I specially ordered a pair of powerful hiking shoes, but I didn't expect to have to abandon my shoes and go down the mountain. No way, I can only silently take off my shoes and socks and put them in my backpack like everyone else and start marching barefoot.

The road to the bottom of the valley is not long, but we walked for four or five hours, which is actually the most painful hours I felt during the five-day course. The road to the valley is almost full of stones and weeds, so every step I take, my feet will tingle. Sometimes you have to walk for more than ten minutes in just a few meters, and sometimes your feet hurt so much that you can only stop and have a rest. Along the way, we kept breathing to help us adjust our state, and finally the last group of people finally reached the finish line smoothly.

At dinner in the evening, we talked about the experience of the day. Wim Hof told us that man is like a closely-structured machine. Under normal circumstances, it will react differently to various external stimuli. This barefoot downhill is to let the feet directly contact nature and let the body make the most accurate perception of the surrounding environment, which will be quickly transmitted to our brains. The function of breathing is to help the body isolate from the brain to a certain extent and let the body adjust itself.

On the third day, everyone did a complete set of breathing exercises in the morning, and then tried ice water training again, but this time the time in ice water was extended from 5 minutes to 10 minutes.

With the experience of the previous day, when I got into the water again this time, I had no idea of being afraid and running away. When my body was completely immersed in ice water, I continued to inhale and exhale, trying not to think about how cold it was, and began to try to observe my body's reaction. Not long after, I was surprised to find that there was a warm current flowing in my body and gradually spreading to all parts of my body. When I was immersed in it and wanted to continue exploring, it was already 10 minutes.

After coming out of the ice water this time, I still felt a little cold, but my body didn't tremble again. I shared my experience with other students around me, and I found that many people, like me, also felt a warm current flowing all over the body. I never realized that the body is so wonderful that it can stimulate so much energy in cold ice water.

In the afternoon, we set off for another part of the national park to climb the mountain. Of course, this time we climbed barefoot. There is a large area of water at the bottom of this valley. Because there is no sunshine all the year round, the water here is colder than ever. Wim Hof led us to climb somewhere in the valley and then jumped into the water first.

I glanced down, and the visual distance was about 10 meter, which was as high as three floors. Although there is no fear of heights, I am still hesitant to jump from such a high place. At that time, Wim Hof has climbed up. I asked him what skills he had when he jumped. He smiled and said, "Yes! Take a step forward and go down, it's very simple! " I looked around and everyone was jumping, so I took two steps forward and then jumped.

I thought the moment I jumped out would challenge my nerves, but my fear disappeared. When I jumped into the cold lake, my first reaction was not fear, but calm. At this time, I continued to inhale and exhale, feeling that a lot of oxygen entered the brain and slowly "flowed" to my limbs, which made me feel more calm in ice water. I thought at that time, maybe the training in the first two days made me gradually adapt to the cold environment. Of course, the body will still feel very cold at this time, but the first reaction of the brain has changed. Instead of shrinking, it encouraged me to experience.

By the time of evening communication, many students were shocked by the changes in the past few days, and so was I. It took only three days for everyone to jump into the ice water 10 for more than a minute.

In a blink of an eye, the fourth day of class began. This ice water training was extended from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. During the whole process, I was no longer afraid, because at this time I was very confident that my body could withstand 15 minutes. I'm just curious and want to continue the physical exploration of the previous day.

If I tried to distract myself by inhaling and exhaling on the first day, I felt a heat flow in my body the next day. On the third or fourth day, I can patiently observe the reaction of my body and see how the heat flow is generated. In the process of observation, I can't help but sigh that my body is really great. Soon, 15 minutes passed, and after coming out of the ice water, I still felt cold, but I was completely adapted.

In the third quarter, thinking mode and mentality determine health.

The short five-day course is about to end. At first, I thought that someone would quit because they couldn't stand it, but in fact, no one had such a situation. This is admirable. We should know that most of the trainees are ordinary people, even housewives, but their willpower is not shrinking, but getting higher every day.

After I came back from Spain, I began to take a cold bath every day. I'm not afraid of the cold anymore. Cold water makes my mind clearer, lowers my heart rate and improves my concentration. With regard to the relationship between cold, body and mind, I deeply remember what Wim Hof said in the course.

He said that we are often afraid of certain things. When you start to fear, your brain marks the bottom line for your body. For example, when you are afraid of cold, your brain will give your body restriction instructions, and to some extent, your immune system will be affected. It is very likely that your body will start to "react", such as shaking and sneezing, and these are just your inner fears. In fact, your body's ability is beyond your imagination, so if you want to detonate its true potential, you must overcome your fear.

His words are not profound, but combined with the practical experience of several days of courses, people have a deep understanding. Fear is often the most effective way for people to lock in their potential. We always think that we have reached the limit of patience, but we don't know that this "limit" is brought to you by fear, not your real limit. Only by overcoming fear can we give ourselves more energy.

What I learned from Wim Hof is not only the way of breathing, but also the ability to resist the cold. I also learned how to accept difficulties calmly, and then observe and break through. More importantly, I found the best way to conquer my inner fear, which may benefit me for life.

Wim Hof gave me the impression that he was a bit like a medieval monk in Europe, and a bit like a strange man in ancient China, the monk Jigong. Jigong likes to preach and solve problems among the people. His reason is not profound, but it is practical. Wim Hof also gives people this feeling. He often said that people can completely overcome their fears. When you do this, you can actually overcome any other difficulties in the same way. Therefore, although he is known as the "Iceman" and has kept many records of cold tolerance, he can finish a standard desert marathon in Namibia at a high temperature of more than 50 degrees Celsius.

Wim Hof also mentioned that people can adjust themselves by changing their inner selves, but unconsciously, we rely more and more on external substances to adjust, not ourselves. At this point, it reminds me that health is the same. We all want to be healthy, but we should not be limited to improving our diet and exercise. To a great extent, health is closely related to our own thinking.

The simplest example is sleep. Why do many people have sleep disorders? Because we have mental stress, we think too much and produce all kinds of emotions. These factors often make the brain send negative instructions to the body, limit ourselves, and even narrow the scope of our potential. Therefore, we must realize that mentality and health are related, that is, "thinking is the core and key to health".