text: Method-related deaths Concerning cold exposure, The American Heart Association and the British Heart Foundation have issued warnings about cold therapy, advising consulting with a physician before attempting, and noting that there is poor evidence supporting the practice. As of March 2024 there are 32 reports of people allegedly dying in relation to the Wim Hof Method. Four practitioners drowned in 2015 and 2016, and relatives suspected the breathing exercises were to blame. In 2021, a Singaporean man drowned in a condominium pool when attempting the method. One person died after cold water therapy session in the UK in 2022. A $67 million lawsuit was filed against Innerfire and Wim Hof in 2022 that alleged 17-year-old Madelyn Rose Metzger died after performing the Wim Hof Method in her pool in Long Beach, California. Wim Hof was acquitted in 2024. At least three people drowned in the summer of 2023 with their family citing Wim Hof breathing as the cause.
  Records and stunts
  Wim Hof has claimed to have attained 26 world records, but he has held only three different records. The higher numbers that are reported can be attributed mainly to breaking the record ''Full-body contact with ice'' 15 times, often by beating his own previous record.
  Fastest half-marathon barefoot on ice and snow
  The fastest half-marathon run while barefoot on ice or snow is 2 hr 16 min 34 sec by Hof near Oulu, Finland, on 26 January 2007. Done for the Discovery Channel program Real Super-humans and the Quest for the Future Fantastic, this is the only current Guinness record in Hof's name.
  Swimming under ice
  On 16 March 2000, Hof set the Guinness World Record for farthest swim under ice on his second attempt, with a distance of . Hof's first attempt the day before failed when he began his swim without goggles and his corneas froze solid and blinded him. A rescue diver pulled him to the surface after he passed out. The record has been broken several times since and now stands at  as of 2022.