The One You Feed

Elissa Epel on Telomeres and How our Choices Affect Them and our Health


Listen Later

Dr. Elissa Epel knows a lot about the science of stress. As a health psychologist, she specializes in research surrounding the role Telomeres and their length play in our body's response to stress. In this episode, she explains how the choices we make emotionally, about our thought patterns, our lifestyle etc directly affects our biology in a very clear and measurable way. It turns out, our thoughts and our behavior have a measurable impact on our biology at a cellular level and there are things that we can do to make that impact a positive one. When it comes to telomeres, in most cases, the longer the better and you can do things to impact that variable of length starting today. She is the coauthor with Nobel winner Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn of the book The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier and Longer


This episode is sponsored by Health IQ. Get lower rates on life insurance if you are health conscious. Get free quote here

 

In This Interview, Elissa Epel and I Discuss...

  • The Wolf Parable
  • Her book, The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier and Longer
  • That genes load the gun and environment pulls the trigger
  • How at least 50% of the variance of whether we die early, get sick etc is our behavior, which is shaped by our psychological experience
  • What a telomere is and their role in aging
  • Keeping them long, and sturdy and stable throughout our lives
  • That in mid-life, shorter telomeres predict getting diseases of aging, earlier (cancer is an exception)
  • That telomere length can be epigenetic
  • The role of inflammation in our health
  • Inflamm-aging
  • An anti-inflammatory diet
  • Depression and telomere length
  • The challenge response
  • That not ruminating on a stressor can lead to a quicker psychological recovery which leads to a quicker physiological recovery
  • Linguistic Self Distancing = improved stress resilience
  • It's not about avoiding stress, it's about coping with stress in a way that doesn't amplify the stress in our mind in a prolonged way
  • Time distancing

  • See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    The One You FeedBy Eric Zimmer

    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5
    • 4.5

    4.5

    2,417 ratings


    More shows like The One You Feed

    View all
    Generation Why: True Crime by Wondery

    Generation Why: True Crime

    17,275 Listeners

    Tara Brach by Tara Brach

    Tara Brach

    10,533 Listeners

    Tricycle Talks by Tricycle: The Buddhist Review

    Tricycle Talks

    385 Listeners

    Untangle by Untangle

    Untangle

    824 Listeners

    The Vanished Podcast by Wondery

    The Vanished Podcast

    15,259 Listeners

    Therapy Chat by Laura Reagan, LCSW-C

    Therapy Chat

    674 Listeners

    This Is Actually Happening by Wondery

    This Is Actually Happening

    10,435 Listeners

    Good Life Project by Jonathan Fields / Acast

    Good Life Project

    3,290 Listeners

    Sounds True: Insights at the Edge by Tami Simon

    Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

    1,840 Listeners

    Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield by Be Here Now Network

    Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield

    1,477 Listeners

    Metta Hour with Sharon Salzberg by Be Here Now Network

    Metta Hour with Sharon Salzberg

    698 Listeners

    10% Happier with Dan Harris by 10% Happier

    10% Happier with Dan Harris

    12,710 Listeners

    Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson by Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson

    Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

    2,501 Listeners

    True Crime All The Time by Emash Digital / Wondery

    True Crime All The Time

    13,758 Listeners

    American History Tellers by Wondery

    American History Tellers

    19,272 Listeners

    Business Wars by Wondery

    Business Wars

    12,921 Listeners

    American Scandal by Wondery

    American Scandal

    19,079 Listeners

    The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos by Pushkin Industries

    The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

    14,286 Listeners

    Mind & Life by Mind & Life Institute

    Mind & Life

    281 Listeners

    The Gathering Room Podcast by Martha Beck

    The Gathering Room Podcast

    676 Listeners

    Against The Odds by Wondery

    Against The Odds

    7,801 Listeners

    British Scandal by Wondery

    British Scandal

    2,494 Listeners

    The Way Out Is In by Plum Village

    The Way Out Is In

    1,350 Listeners

    Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen by Elise Loehnen

    Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen

    1,095 Listeners