[buescher]

Off and on, I've been seeing woo about the vagus nerve for a while. This article was refreshingly balanced. Now I know: "Tracey’s discovery also caught the attention of mind-body practitioners, including the Dutch motivational speaker and “Iceman” Wim Hof". Aha. Indeed.

Where is the rest of this stuff coming from? Is there a deeper dive?

[hnbad]

Any mention of Wim Hof deserves a mention of the fact that the "Wim Hof Method" has a perfect verification mechanism: Wim Hof has a twin brother who does not practice the method and performs similarly well on most of the tests supposed to demonstrate the method's efficacy: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24773331

In other words: there's likely a genetic factor at play much like no amount of training will give you the genetic advantage Phelps has in terms of wing span and lung capacity: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/olympic-g...

[esperent]

> similarly well on most of the tests

From your link they checked exactly one thing: shivering response to cold following breathing exercises. Both twins did exactly as well on this one test. That's not "most tests". It's one test. And personally, being able to withstand cold is the least interesting claimed benefit of breathing techniques.

[swader999]

Yes! And it's so easy to just try it and see for yourself. Laughable that anyone wouldn't just take ten minutes to see if it does anything.