Daughter of 'Iceman' Wim Hof on why cold showers lead to 'happy hormones'

The 64-year-old, who has appeared on British TV explaining his cold therapy methods, has climbed most of Everest in just shorts and shoes, insists daily ice baths or cold showers are the secret to good health and happiness, and has held a slew of Guinness World Records for cold-related feats of endurance.

“I think I was raised by a very special man, which I only understood later,” says Laura, 36 – agreeing that the childhood she shared with her three siblings was “absolutely” different to that of their friends’.

“We always used to play outside – if it was cold, it didn’t really matter. The weatherman never dictated what we needed to wear.”

When Laura was eight, her mum died by suicide, so she and her two brothers and sister were then raised by Wim on his own.

“We were very free – I don’t think there were any rules,” she remembers. “Sometimes you would think, OK, kids need some rules, but it was also the best time of my life. My father used to play more than we did. So he always wanted to go outside with us, and that was great.”

She says the Hof “little clan” led a very simple life, and didn’t have much money. “But what we did have is the most important thing – we had a lot of love in our house. It just was full of love and play. And that’s actually all that kids need.”

She started taking cool showers when she was 11, initially to help improve her skin, she says, and was 23 when she started using her father’s now famous breathing techniques, after he suggested they might help with her hangover, which “just washed away, like a dark cloud, it was gone”.

Laura – who is now a Wim Hof Method Instructor herself – says her father’s unconventional methods have become “ingrained” in her life. Every day she does three rounds of breathing exercises when she wakes up, then has a warm shower before turning it to cold for two minutes, letting the water flow over her from the neck down.

She says: “The moment you don’t want to do the cold shower and you still do it, you make a very conscious decision that you’re going to do the hard thing that’s cold and uncomfortable. But afterwards, you did it. And then you feel euphoria, your body feels great, your chemistry is right, you make a little bit of a noradrenaline and dopamine and serotonin – you get some happy hormones.”

Laura Hof is appearing at the Wellnergy wellness festival on June 17 at Barn Elms Sports Centre in Barnes, London.