living healthy longer – Details, episodes & analysis

Michael "Mick" Smyer, former provost and emeritus professor of psychology at Bucknell University, is now the founder and CEO of Growing Greener, an initiative dedicated to mobilizing older adults to take action on climate change.

In this season 4 finale, we discuss strategies for navigating conversations about climate change with those around you. We also examine why older adults are particularly vulnerable to climate change and the importance of intergenerational engagement on this critical issue. Smyer introduces Growing Greener and how it empowers individuals to shift from climate anxiety to meaningful action.

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Visit CSU's Center for Healthy Aging website in between seasons to keep up with events and programming.

Anita Bundy, an occupational therapist at CSU, discusses the vital role of play throughout life – from childhood to older adulthood. She explains how "risky play" helps children develop physically, cognitively, and emotionally, and how play remains important for older adults. Through sports and social activities, play helps adults and caregivers balance the "dignity of risk" with the "duty of care," offering opportunities for achievement, competition, and successful aging.

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Read more about Bundy's research on CSU's SOURCE.

Dr. Greg Gahm – a geriatrician, Corporate Medical Director for Vivage Senior Living, and an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at CU Anschutz – discusses the long-term care industry over the decades, including the different types of long-term care available, standards of care provided, and the impact of the pandemic on cost dynamics and staffing structures. If you're just getting introduced to long-term care, this is the episode for you.

Amidst the ongoing debate over whether Presidents Biden and Trump are "too old" to run for president again, our season 4 premiere offers a compelling panel discussion. At the crossroads of healthy aging, anti-ageism, political science, and principles of democracy, this episode revisits a thought-provoking conversation originally aired on President's Day 2024. Explore with us the the extent to which age should impact your decision-making at the 2024 ballot box. Perspectives by:

• Karrin Anderson, moderator and Professor of Communication Studies.
• Manfred Diehl, University Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Studies.
• Christine Fruhauf, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies.
• Lucas Brady Woods, State Capitol Reporter at KUNC.
• Nick DeSalvo, ASCSU president and political science student.

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Today's episode revisits every guest from season 3 of living healthy longer and their answers to the S3 standing question: Can you identify a major challenge in your field that must be overcome to see real improvements in healthspan or healthy aging research?

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Dr. Kate E. Creevy is a board-certified small animal veterinary internist at Texas A&M University with a primary research interest in canine longevity and healthspan. Creevy – a founder of the Dog Aging Project – shares some interesting findings about diet, cognitive function and physical activity from the first data release of 27,000 pet dogs enrolled in DAP.

According to the CDC, health disparities are "preventable differences in the burden of disease...that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations."

Ronica Rooks, a professor of health and behavioral sciences at CU-Denver, joins to discuss racial and ethnic health disparities affecting older adults. Gentrification and social determinants of health are explored, as well as Rooks' studies on working and volunteering as strategies to stave off dementia risk.

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"Key Data on Health and Health Care by Race and Ethnicity" by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

"Minority Population Profiles" from HHS Office of Minority Health.

2023 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures from the AA.

Learn about the 3-30-300 rule on Wild Ideas Worth Living.

Ava Segal is the founder and CEO of Steadi Systems, a health-tech startup out of Golden, CO that is providing solutions for better balance health and awareness. In this episode, Segal discusses the importance of balance fitness and introduces us to Steadiplay: an engaging balance training tool she invented for her doctoral research at Colorado School of Mines.

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Find Segal on LinkedIn or email her at ava@steadisystems.com. 

Watch Steadiplay in action here.

Is it possible that researchers can find signs of future cognitive decline in muscles before the brain ever shows a deficit? Shelby Osburn, a postdoctoral researcher in CSU's Healthspan Biology Lab, thinks yes. In this episode, Osburn describes her recent proposal to examine the fascinating relationship between skeletal muscle and Alzheimer's disease.

Greg Ebel, a professor and director of CSU's Center for Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, discusses his lab’s history of surveillance and prevention strategies for arboviruses (West Nile, dengue and Zika viruses), and how that work poised his team to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic early in 2020.