How to have better sex? Take ice baths – an expert explains what the Wim Hof Method does to your body

The Wim Hof Method combines ice baths with breathwork. A Singapore-based instructor describes how to try cold therapy at home, and how it can make sex better

Coupling cold plunges with breathing exercises and movement can train the mind to focus, he says, and bring improvements in other areas of your life

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It may sound unlikely, but taking ice baths can improve your sex life by training your circulatory system and teaching the mind to focus. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 5:45pm, 13 Feb 2022

Taking an ice-cold bath would be the last thing to make you feel intimate, you may imagine – but it could give your sex life a significant boost.

Such is the experience of Dr Oberdan Marianetti, a Singapore-based psychologist and clinical sexologist and a practitioner of the Wim Hof Method. Wim Hof, known as The Iceman, is a Dutch extreme athlete who popularised cold therapy and breathwork, or controlled hyperventilation.

Four years ago, Marianetti founded OM-Ice retreats, a residential programme which incorporates psychology, breathwork, movement and cold exposure over a few days.

When he first heard of Hof’s penchant for having people submerge themselves in ice baths, Marianetti was sceptical. “Initially I dismissed the idea, this is clearly a gimmick, I thought.”

But when he read articles backed by scientific evidence in support of the method, he decided to experiment. He set up a home-made ice bath in his Singapore flat (cold showers were not an option; Singapore’s mains water pipes flow at a fairly constant 24 degrees Celsius, and you need a temperature of 15 degrees or less to reap the benefits).