Chronic stress from life in an unjust society can have measurable negative impacts on the health of people from marginalized backgrounds. 

The concept is known as weathering, and it’s the focus of the aptly named book by Arline Geronimus, a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a professor in the school of public health at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research.

Weathering is exacerbated by racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination, and can contribute to health disparities, leading to earlier onset of diseases like cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. 

Geronimus compares modern-day stressors to the literal predators of the past and urges listeners to come together to explore systemic solutions that can help mitigate the effects of weathering.

“We all have to commit to seeing each other, to understanding the differences in our lived experience,” she says, “to seeing that different people have different ‘lions’ and ‘tigers’ …and figuring out what it is we have to do to change that.”

Geronimus joined Movement Is Life’s summit and spoke with Board Member Christin Zollicoffer for this podcast episode.

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