The Benefits of High Heat & Discomfort w/ Health Science Journalist Bill Gifford

About this episode

The episode discusses the benefits of heat and discomfort with health science journalist Bill Gifford.

When a book came across my desk about the benefits of heat, my first thought was, “Really?” We’ve been in the age of cold plunges for quite a while, but now it’s heat? I also wondered, does it take an entire book to explain this? Then I saw the author was Bill Gifford. Bill is a veteran magazine writer and editor who writes about extraordinary athletes and cutting-edge health science. He is coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Outlive, which has sold more than two million copies, as well as the New York Times bestseller Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying). He is a longtime contributing editor at Outside, and his work has appeared in Wired, Bloomberg Businessweek, Men’s Health, Bicycling, The Washington Post, and others, as well as in Best American Sportswriting. This latest book is called HOTWIRED: How the Hidden Power of Heat Makes Us Stronger, and in it he does like all the great journalist and shares his personal journey in experiencing heat therapy. What I initially intrigued myself with was Bill’s look into history where we routinely experienced long periods of high heat and air conditioning wasn’t normal until the 1950s and 1960s. We always had fire…

People in this episode

Host: Kevin Miller

Guest: Bill Gifford

Topics covered

• heat therapy
• health science
• discomfort
• cultural adaptation
• historical perspective

Keywords

• heat therapy
• Bill Gifford
• health science
• discomfort
• cultural adaptation
• historical perspective
• fitness

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Outside, Wired, Bloomberg Businessweek, Men’s Health, Bicycling, The Washington Post, Best American Sportswriting

Books & works: Outlive, Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying), HOTWIRED: How the Hidden Power of Heat Makes Us Stronger

More episodes of The Kevin Miller Podcast

• Are You Treating Your Anxiety As An Alert Or A Constant Passenger w/ Neuropsychotherapist Britt Frank · June 12, 2026 · 1h 20m
• Desensitized or Oversensitized: Why We Are So Anxious About Our Differences And How To Find Peace w/ Social Psychologist Claude Steele · June 8, 2026 · 1h 9m
• How To Be Your Authentic Self & Still Be Kind To Others w/ Mindvalley CoFounder Kristina Mänd-Lakhiani · June 5, 2026 · 1h 17m
• What Measures Whether You Matter Or Not w/ Philosopher Rebecca Goldstein · June 1, 2026 · 1h 9m
• Living & Thriving With Pain of Loss That Will Never Go Away w/ Neurosurgeon Lee Warren · May 29, 2026 · 1h 24m
• Getting Clear On What Is Truly At Risk In Pursuing What We Want w/ Connection Expert Ben Swire · May 25, 2026 · 1h 10m