We've all been there, one moment you're lying in bed comfortably wrapped up in a cocoon of blankets, blissfully warm and peaceful.

Then the next your alarm is going off and before you know it you're trudging through another cold winter morning

to go work eight hours at a job you hate,

trying not to think about the fact that you'll be repeating this routine tomorrow, and every day after that.

Until you die.

Or maybe you're stuck in the dog days of summer, in the midst of another record-breaking heat wave because global warming is definitely not real,

and panting desperately trying to fan yourself and find some relief.

Truth is, most people would rather live our lives in a comfortably room-temperature world of seventy degrees Fahrenheit,

but our reality routinely puts up against the bitter elements, extreme cold or extreme heat.

If you live somewhere insane like Australia, you get both- plus every animal there can kill you, in both hot and cold.

But what if you could train yourself to resist the effects of extreme temperatures?

We've all read about modern supermen, with the power to withstand extreme heat or extreme cold

and do things that would seem like they'd kill just about any other person alive.

What about you though, the average Joe?

Could you realistically train your body to survive extreme cold?

Wim Hof is a dutch man known as an extremeophile, and has earned the nickname "The Iceman".

In fact you've probably seen him featured already on our show.

Since he was a teenager Hof has been routinely subjecting himself to extreme cold,

and he's learned not only to love it, but thrive in it.

He's completed several marathons completely barefoot in the Arctic Circle,

once spent over an hour swimming under ice, and has hiked almost the entire height of Mount Everest wearing only shorts.

Yet Hof is definitely not immune to the effects of the cold,

as a matter of fact during his first attempt to set a record for swimming under ice,

he had to be rescued by a diver after his cornea began to freeze.

Yes, you heard that correctly- corneas can apparently freeze, and all that did was slow Hof down.

He beat the record the very next day.

So then how does he do these incredible feats?

Hof is well known, and often criticized, for marketing what he terms the Wim Hof method.

While reviews are mixed, the method is fairly simple and consists of engaging in regular meditation and elaborate breathing exercises.

According to the method, you first begin with thirty cycles of breathing meant to induce controlled hyperventilation.

You inhale filling the lungs completely, which means starting your breath down in the stomach and slowly expanding your lungs upwards.

Then you release the breath, but without actually exhaling- instead you let the pressure in your lungs force air out, before inhaling again.

Once you've mastered thirty cycles of controlled hyperventilation,

you then focus on controlling your body's response to being deprived of oxygen.

You do this by taking deep breaths in, holding it in briefly, and then completely expelling all the air out of your lungs.

With empty lungs, you then resist the urge to breathe in as long as possible.

You might feel yourself drifting into oxygen-depravation panic,

but if you can hold out long enough you'll actually eventually receive a boost of oxygen

as your liver releases oxygen-rich blood that it keeps stored for emergencies like this.

Freedivers who swim without oxygen often practice hitting this point,

and warn that the hardest part is simply keeping your cool and not freaking out.

The third step is to then work on your breath retention.

After mastering the complete exhalation exercise, you then repeat,

and when your urges to breathe get incredibly strong, you then take a full, deep breath in and hold it for 15-20 seconds.

Altogether, a complete work out should include three consecutive rounds of all three steps,

and this Hof claims will help you master your ability to resist the effects of the cold.

But, does it work?

Well, surprisingly, yes, it does.

Scientists have discovered that resisting the effects of cold is more to do with your own mental perception

and willpower rather than anything biological.

Studies on people who have learned to resist the cold show that their core body temperature remains pretty much the same as a regular person's,

it's simply their perception of cold that's different.

For them, the same cold that sends you scurrying into a pile of blankets is merely a light breeze.

Of Course biology does help though, and scientists have also found

that individuals who regularly expose themselves to extreme cold actually develop fat deposits known as brown fat.

This is the same type of fat you had as a baby, and is largely to thank for your chubby, cute appearance as a newborn.

Babies are pretty terrible about keeping body heat in,

so the body is able to burn this fat much more efficiently than regular fat, which helps keep it warm.

If you regularly expose yourself to extreme cold, you too can hack your body into believing it needs to generate this type of fat deposits,

and in turn they will help keep you warm.

The trick though of course is to undergo what extremophiles term acclimatization,

or the process of gradually increasing exposure to extreme cold.

Sorry, but eating a bunch of donuts on the couch isn't going to get you the precious brown fat you need for your underwear-only trip to the north pole-

it's just going to get you regular fat.