642: The science of sweat, saunas & stress | best-selling author Bill Gifford
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Why is sweating considered our evolutionary superpower?
Welcome to the My Buddy Green podcast. I'm Jason Wachub, founder and co-CEO of My Buddy Green and your host. What if one of the most powerful tools for your health has been hiding in plain sight?
What can ancient heat rituals teach us about modern practices?
And most of us have been actually avoiding it. Today's guest is Bill Gifford, a veteran science journalist, author of Spring Chicken, a New York Times bestselling author on longevity and co-author of Outlive.
How long and how hot should sauna sessions be?
His latest book, Hot Wired, How the Hidden Power of Heat Makes Us Stronger, dives deep into the emerging science of heat, sweating, and what happens when we stop running from discomfort. Bill spent his career translating cutting-edge science for real people, writing for Wired, Bloomberg, Businessweek, Scientific American, Outside, and more.
What are the risks of dehydration during heat exposure?
In this episode, we get into why sweating is one of humanity's greatest evolutionary superpowers and what we lose when we live in perfectly climate-controlled comfort 24-7. We discuss the Finnish sauna tradition, what the science says about minimum effective dose, and why heat exposure may be one of the most underrated tools for cardiovascular and mental health.
What are the unique aspects of Finnish sauna culture?
We also tackle the cold punch debate. Bill makes a compelling case for why the cold side of the equation is far less settled than what one would believe. This one challenged some of my own assumptions, and I think it will challenge yours too.
How can heat acclimation training benefit athletes?
Let's dive in. Heat. Sweating. You argue that sweating, which many people do not like, is a superpower. Let's talk about that. What did we lose when we moved into this world of constant climate control?
What does science say about hot-cold contrast therapies?
And how do we get it back when we reintroduce heat?
Yeah, so our ability to sweat is this evolutionary anomaly, and it kind of happened by accident, they think, more than a million years ago. The series of genetic mutations that took these existing sweat glands that our ancestors had in their feet and their, I guess, paws, spread them all over their body. These are our pre-human ape-like ancestors, right? So they had these, all of a sudden they had these sweat glands all over their body and they lost their body hair. So now they could sweat to cool themselves. And this meant that they could basically kick the butts of every other animal. They went from the middle of the food chain, started climbing to the top because now, because they could sweat and because we could sweat,
They could function in the middle of the day, in the heat of the day, in Africa, on the equator. So all the other animals had to kind of hide in the shade, right? We could be out foraging, even hunting. We had it to ourselves. So sweating is our superpower. So we've been sweating for a million years. Air conditioning was invented in 1903, and it took decades to catch on.
How can heat exposure improve mental health?
So even like our grandparents would have endured or not, or endured slash been able to handle 30, 40 degree temperature swings in the course of a day. especially in North America, heat to cold, right? So we had this big temperature range and we're evolutionarily equipped to handle it. But now fast forward to the modern era and we live in 67 degrees, 70, 72, perfect comfort all the time.
I'm sold.
I live in Miami. That's not a bad thing necessarily. Like air conditioning is great to sleep in, I'll be honest. And you live in Miami, so, you know.
I live in Miami, I'm sold. And yes, cold is great for sleep. That's fair to say. So if we say, we'll get into this heat versus, the hot versus cold debate, but cold is good for sleep. So, but let's go into why is heat so good? Why is sweating so good? for our health?
It's one of those things where science has caught up to ancient customs. People have been doing saunas for thousands of years, literally. Sauna-like practices. And many cultures around the world have these sort of hot spaces that people have gone into, you know, as like a daily ritual. So, you know, it's sort of like with alcohol or wine, right? We've been making wine for thousands of years, fermenting beer, does something that we kind of like, right? There must be something to it. So science has caught up to that and found that across a variety of systems and contexts, raising your body temperature a little bit.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why is sweating considered our evolutionary superpower?
0:00–0:15
2
What can ancient heat rituals teach us about modern practices?
0:15–0:28
3
How long and how hot should sauna sessions be?
0:28–0:51
4
What are the risks of dehydration during heat exposure?
0:51–1:13
5
What are the unique aspects of Finnish sauna culture?
1:13–1:26
6
How can heat acclimation training benefit athletes?
1:26–1:45
7
What does science say about hot-cold contrast therapies?
1:45–3:09
8
How can heat exposure improve mental health?
3:09–43:01
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The mindbodygreen Podcast
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