living healthy longer

From the moment we’re born, we’re surrounded by microbes that shape our development, especially our immune systems. In the last few years, scientists have become especially interested in these microbes, collectively called the microbiome, and their influence on a variety of diseases and conditions.

Here we talk to Assistant Professor Tara Cepon Robins from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs about the microbiome and aging. We get into the microbiome's role in chronic inflammation and discuss how exposure to pathogens as a child can shape your immune system for the rest of life. And, can the location of your upbringing — whether it's an urban, rural, or suburban environment — affect the development of your body's immune defense mechanisms?

Read more about the Hygiene Hypothesis here.

According to the CDC, every year, more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke. And, strokes are a leading cause of serious long-term disability.

For Stroke Awareness Month, we're talking to Dr. Neha Lodha of CSU's Department of Health and Exercise Science, whose research focuses on rehab interventions for individuals who have experienced stroke. We cover the different types of strokes and ways to recognize when a stroke is happening. We also share information about Lodha’s mobility clinics, which she offers to residents in Larimer County, aged 60 and above, to assess their risks for falls or driving crashes.

For more information or to participate in Lodha's studies, email [email protected] or fill out the contact form here.

Dr. Becca Lassell is an occupational therapist whose research focuses on equine-assisted services and the impact of the equine-environment on cognitive, physical, and social well-being. In this episode, we discuss Lassell's dissertation research that examined how people with Alzheimer’s and dementia responded to a therapeutic horseback riding program, called Riding in the Moment, which is offered at Hearts & Horses Therapeutic Riding Center in Loveland, Colorado. We also talk about gardening, and how nature-based interventions like these seem to positively impact people with cognitive decline.

According to the CDC, One Health is a concept that recognizes that the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and our shared environment. Dr. Sue VandeWoude leads CSU's One Health Institute, where she helps facilitate discussions and create research teams to find solutions to One Health problems. We discuss how comparative medicine informs human health and why animals are the key to understanding many human diseases and conditions, including aging.

Read Tears of the Cheetah by Stephen O'Brien here.

Dean Lise Youngblade of the College of Health and Human Sciences at Colorado State University is a lifespan developmental scientist whose research centers on childhood and adolescent experiences. In our conversation, we talk about the impact of experiences that happen to us in early life and decisions that we can make as we age that will help us live longer and healthier. We also discuss the history of aging research at CSU and how the Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging came to be.

More on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) here.

Read The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk here.

Dr. Stuart Tobet’s research has shown that there are cellular events that happen within sensitive periods of development, such as the prenatal stage or infancy, in which hormones have the potential to cause permanent changes in anatomy and physiology into adulthood. In this episode, we learn about the importance of environment in influencing our health, and that humans are the end product of a complex cascade of hormones, signals, genes, and more held inside of us.

For a deeper dive into the complexity of sex differences, visit this graphic from Scientific American.

The best solutions to a problem are discovered when scientists from a variety of backgrounds work together, each one providing a perspective that the other doesn't have.

Dr. Jeni Cross, a community sociologist, teaches us about the science of team science: why humans work better in teams and how research benefits from a transdisciplinary approach. We learn how teams of people foster innovation, how they communicate effectively with each other, what their relationships are like, and basically, what makes for a good team.

Notes:

How can we improve the creativity and performance of research teams? Read this blog by Dr. Cross and Dr. Hannah Love.

Campus Connections is a mentoring program that pairs CSU students with local youth.

Dr. Karyn Hamilton, a Health and Exercise Science professor and Associate Director here at the Center, talks to us about musculoskeletal aging and the ways that muscles, bones, tendons and cartilage all change as we get older. We discuss how the hallmarks of aging play a role in muscle dysfunction and how lab methods are used to study cellular stress responses in the musculoskeletal system.

Read more about Dr. Hamilton and her research here.

Dr. Deana Davalos, a neuropsychologist and cognitive scientist at Colorado State University, introduces us to the topic of cognitive decline, including dementias and Alzheimer's disease, and explains how our everyday habits and lifestyles can help us keep our brains sharp as we age. We learn about the landmark Nun Study on Aging and Alzheimer’s and leave with actionable tips for promoting healthy cognitive aging.

Click here to learn more about The Enriched Environments for Healthy Aging Brains project, or visit the Center's Programs and Services page for information about the THRIVE Project or Aging Clinic of the Rockies.

We talk to Dr. Tom LaRocca, an assistant professor of health and exercise science at Colorado State University, about lifespan vs. healthspan and how researchers are working to create personalized, biological interventions that influence aging and increase the number of healthy years we have to live.