Wim Hof vs Meditation: Which One Builds Stress Capacity Faster?

A new study suggests the choice between meditation or Wim Hof depends on what you want your nervous system to learn.

In a culture that treats stress as something to eliminate, a large new study published in Scientific Reports offers a more nuanced view. Researchers at the University of Queensland compared the psychophysiological effects of the Wim Hof Method with mindfulness[mahynd-fuhl-nis]nounThe practice of paying attention to the present moment with non-judgmental awareness.Learn MoreClose meditation over 29 days and found that each practice appears to train a different aspect of resilience[ri-zil-yuhns]nounThe ability to recover quickly from stress or setbacks.Learn MoreClose.

Rather than asking which method is “better,” the study asks a more useful question: how do different practices shape the way we experience, respond to, and recover from stress?

The Study: Wim Hof vs Meditation 

The trial followed 404 healthy adults who completed one of three daily protocols for just under a month. Two groups practiced the Wim Hof Method, which combines cyclic hyperventilation breathwork[breth-wurk]nounIntentional breathing exercises that reduce stress and improve focus.Learn MoreClose with cold exposure. One group followed the protocol remotely, while another also took part in weekly supervised ice baths. A third group practiced a 15-minute breath-focused mindfulness meditation.

Everyone wore WHOOP devices to track sleep and physiology, completed daily check-ins on energy, clarity, stress, and anxiety, and performed brief cognitive tests. For this type of research, the design was strong: a large sample, an active comparison group, daily measurements, and transparent reporting of limitations.

What Changed Over 29 Days?

The most interesting effects showed up in how people felt immediately after practice.

Right after practice, Wim Hof resulted in higher energy and clarity. After completing their daily protocol, people in both Wim Hof groups consistently reported higher energy, greater mental clarity, and a stronger sense of being able to handle stress than those practicing meditation. What made this especially compelling was how those effects evolved. As days on the protocol increased, gains in energy, clarity, and perceived stress capacity grew larger in the Wim Hof groups. Over the same period, the impact of meditation on those momentary states tended to level off.

Stress itself followed a different curve. Meditation led to larger immediate drops in perceived stress, particularly early on. With repeated Wim Hof practice, however, reductions in stress increased over time. The researchers interpret this pattern through a hormesis framework: repeated, recoverable exposure to short bouts of stress may train the nervous system’s adaptive capacity, rather than simply quieting it.

For longer-term measures, the picture was more restrained. Over 29 days, there were few meaningful differences between groups in outcomes like depression, stress, or fatigue. Meditation showed clearer benefits for trait anxiety and sleep duration. Wim Hof did not outperform meditation on most trait measures within that timeframe. That distinction matters. This study does not suggest that a month of cold exposure transforms mental health. It suggests that repeated state-level shifts may be the groundwork for longer-term change if practice continues.

Physiological data added a subtle layer of interest. Both Wim Hof groups showed lower nightly respiratory rates than the meditation group, a signal often associated with improved autonomic efficiency. Other measures, including heart rate variability and sleep architecture, showed few consistent differences, reflecting both the modest size of physiological effects and the limits of wearable devices outside the lab.

One unexpected finding stood out. People practicing the Wim Hof Method reported short-term improvements in perceived psychological safety within their work teams. That effect did not persist at follow-up and should be treated as exploratory, but it raises an intriguing possibility: training stress tolerance at the individual level may influence how people show up socially under pressure.

How Wim Hof Compares to Meditation

Wim Hof Method (breathwork and cold exposure): Trains stress capacity, resulting in larger momentary increases in energy, mental clarity, and perceived ability to handle stress, along with a growing reduction in stress across days of practice.

Mindfulness meditation: Supported stress relief, resulting in stronger calming effects, better sleep duration, lower anxiety, more accurate executive function performance, and steadier cognitive accuracy.

Taken together, the findings point to a practical reframe. Meditation reliably supports calming, sleep, and anxiety reduction. Wim Hof practices appear to train how capable, energized, and clearheaded people feel when stress is present, especially with repetition. These are different adaptations, not opposing ones.

How to put this into practice, without turning it into a stunt

1. Choose the tool based on the outcome you want.
If your priority is settling the nervous system, improving sleep, or easing baseline anxiety, meditation remains a strong foundation. If you want to feel more capable, alert, and steady when stress shows up, controlled stress exposure, like the Wim Hof Method, may be a useful complement.

2. Make consistency the goal.
Daily adherence in the study was far from perfect, yet clear patterns still emerged over time. That’s a useful reminder that small, repeatable exposures appear to matter more than dramatic efforts or extremes.

3. Treat cold exposure as training.
The protocol uses gradual increases in exposure time. At home, that might look like ending a warm shower with 15 to 30 seconds of cool water and slowly building from there. The signal comes from recovery and repetition.

How to Practice the Wim Hof Method (As Studied)

The University of Queensland study tested a daily, time-limited protocol designed to create short, controlled stress followed by recovery. 

1. Start with guided breathwork (about 15 minutes)

• Lie down or sit comfortably in a safe environment.
• Perform cyclic hyperventilation: inhale deeply through the nose or mouth, exhale without force, about 30 breaths.
• After the final exhale, hold the breath until the urge to breathe returns.
• Take one full breath in, hold for about 15 seconds, then release.
• Repeat for four rounds, with breath holds gradually lengthening.
• Always practice away from water and never while driving.

This breathwork is designed to temporarily activate the stress response, then allow the nervous system to recover.

2. Add brief cold exposure

• Finish a warm shower with cold water, starting at about 30–60 seconds.
• Focus on slow, controlled breathing while exposed to the cold.
• Gradually increase exposure time over days or weeks, aiming for a few minutes.
• In the study, cold exposure increased slowly over time rather than starting intense.

Cold exposure acts as a physical stressor that reinforces the stress–recovery cycle.

3. Practice daily, before the day begins

• The protocol was done once daily, ideally in the morning before work or exercise.
• Consistency mattered more than perfection. Even with imperfect adherence, cumulative effects still appeared.

4. Keep it controlled

• The study excluded anyone with medical conditions that could make breath holds or cold exposure unsafe.
• The benefits observed came from repeatable, moderate exposure.

In this study, the Wim Hof Method worked best as stress training, not stress relief. Breathwork and cold exposure were used to briefly challenge the system, then let it recover, day after day, building a stronger sense of energy, clarity, and capacity to handle stress over time.

The deeper takeaway is quietly reassuring. Resilience grows through deliberate challenge, adequate recovery, and the steady accumulation of small adaptations over time.

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