Effects of Cold Exposure and Breathing Techniques on Immune Response

"The start of the training is scheduled 7 to 12 days before the endotoxemia experiment day. Subjects in this group will participate in a 4 day intensive cold exposure course (see section 5.1). On day 1, venous blood will be sampled directly after ice water immersion. On day 4, venous blood will be sampled before the training procedures on that day and after the last ice water immersion.~After the 4 day course, subjects will continue to practice cold exposure at home using cold showers. The timing and length of this training is analogous to the time spend on training in the cold in our previous study protocol \[7\]."

The training is scheduled 2 to 6 days before the endotoxemia experiment day. Subjects in this group will receive a detailed, written instruction about the strength ventilation technique (see section 5.1). In addition, they will receive a 2 hour instruction session during which the research team will supervise the practices and clarify the instructions of needed. Subjects are instructed not to practice the learned techniques at home.