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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View the PDF containing our public opinion survey data.

Fill out the podcast feedback form! Your response will help hosts plan future episodes.

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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Fill out the podcast feedback form! Your response will help our host plan future episodes.

Sign up here to participate in healthy aging studies at CSU.

Join CSU's Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging newsletter listserv.

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.

About five years ago, some patients in Denver were suffering from a stubborn lung disease that, despite ongoing treatments, was not responding to antibiotics. Patients' symptoms kept worsening, and Drs. Alan Schenkel and Ed Chan were curious.

Tune in to hear them describe NTM infection, a lung disease that is becoming more common in adults over the age of 50. What are nontuberculous mycobacteria, and what is it about certain people’s immune responses that make them more susceptible to NTM infection than others?

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Read more about NTM from the American Lung Association.

Associate Professor of Pathobiology Candace Mathiason introduces us to the weird ways of prions and how they can be used as models for Alzheimer’s disease in humans. Mathiason describes her past research in retroviruses and the approach her lab is taking to develop tests that can detect Alzheimer’s earlier in the disease’s progression.

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Learn more about prions from the NIH and the CDC.

Read about CSU's history in chronic wasting disease research from The Coloradoan.

Nancy Murray, an economic development specialist with Larimer County, joins to discuss an Opportunity Now grant aimed at addressing Colorado's caregiver shortage. With over 684,000 annual openings projected nationwide for home health aides, Murray explores challenges of low wages and high turnover while sharing her vision for the transformative CareCorps program. Tune in to learn how you can support this local effort in Northern Colorado.

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Interested in partnering? Email murrayno@co.larimer.co.us.

Dr. Stephen Aichele, a quantitative psychologist at CSU, describes the relationship between depression and cognitive decline, and how data science methods can be used to determine predictors of cognitive changes. We briefly discuss the effects of air pollution and lead exposure on cognitive development, and Aichele shares what his research reveals about three key predictors of depression risk following middle age: social isolation, poor health and mobility issues.

Zhijie Wang, an assistant professor in CSU’s School of Biomedical Engineering, discusses the anatomy of the heart and why the right ventricle has historically been viewed as the “forgotten chamber" in research. We also discuss tissue engineering as a therapy for heart failure and disease.

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Read about the world's first 3D-printed heart using human cells, created by Israeli scientists in 2019.

Visit Wang's CardioVascular Biomechanics Laboratory.

Josiane Broussard – an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science and the director of the Sleep and Metabolism Lab at CSU – explains the importance of sleep and why this essential behavior is key to every process in the body. How do our sleeping patterns change with age, and what can you do to build a better sleep schedule?

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Find tips for healthy sleep from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.

Sara LoTemplio – a new assistant professor in CSU’s Human Dimensions of Natural Resources department – is here to talk about the restorative effects of nature on the brain. From indigenous teachings, to how the heart and brain respond to being outdoors, LoTemplio shares her preliminary ideas on how interactions with nature might slow cognitive decline in older adults and boost mood and attention span.

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Find the RAAIN Lab here.

Read "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Learn about the University of Washington's Indigenous Wellness Research Institute here.

Today's episode revisits every guest from Season 2 of living healthy longer and what makes them most excited for the future of aging studies. Where is aging research going and what makes CHA affiliate faculty hopeful?

Our show will return for Season 3 in January 2023! Sign up for our newsletter at healthyaging.colostate.edu for updates in the meantime.

Today's show is a special two-part episode with the Health and Human Science Matters podcast, hosted by the College of Health and Human Sciences' Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, Matt Hickey, and the college’s Digital Media Strategist, Avery Martin.

We teamed up to speak with Dean Lise Youngblade and Dr. Nicole Ehrhart, the former interim and current directors of the Center for Healthy Aging, to have a conversation about women as leaders in science.

Listen to part 1 over at the HHSM podcast, where Ehrhart and Youngblade discuss their trajectories, hobbies, and roles as female leaders in STEM.

Then, come back here for part 2 to learn why CSU is uniquely positioned to study models of aging because of its land-grant mission. Dr. Ehrhart describes the Center’s Longitudinal COVID-19 Screening Study in Nursing Facilities, and Dean Youngblade shares about CSU’s role in responding to the mental health crisis in Colorado, both locally and in rural areas across the state.

Lisa Morgan, an instructor in CSU’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, discusses how it feels physically and emotionally to connect with others through the art of dance. Morgan shares the cognitive benefits of movement through dance and introduces her Moving Through Parkinson's program, a dance class for people living with Parkinson's disease.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Moving Through Parkinson's
• Community dance classes at CSU
• Parkinson's Support Group of Larimer County
• Parkinson's Association of the Rockies
• Friends of Traditional Dance in Fort Collins
• Aspen Club
• Fort Collins Senior Center

Jaclyn Stephens and Arlene Schmid, faculty in CSU’s Department of Occupational Therapy, join to share an update about a study that aims to build support for yoga therapy as a treatment for disability and chronic brain injury.

Read more on CSU's SOURCE or from the Boettcher Foundation.

Assistant Professor Tom LaRocca from CSU's Department of Health and Exercise Science is back to tell us about a new study from his lab that is investigating repetitive elements in the genome as biomarkers for aging.

• View the recruitment flyer for the Bio-Aging Study.
• To volunteer for the study, email Tom.LaRocca@colostate.edu.
• Read more about LaRocca's research in repetitive elements.
• Learn about Stanford's iAge inflammatory clock.

Associate Professor Adela Chen from CSU’s Department of Computer Information Systems describes how social media use relates to early childhood experiences, and how the boundaries between our professional and personal lives are blurred by the use of technology at work and at home.

Assistant Professor Julie Silver Seidle, an occupational therapist specializing in older adulthood, shares insights from her 2020 dissertation about the emotional and physical challenges caregivers face during bereavement. She also explores resilience and finding identity and purpose post-caregiving.

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Read Silver Seidle's dissertation, "Life After Caregiving" on ProQuest.

Jodi Waterhouse is the director of outreach programs at the University of Colorado Anschutz Multidisciplinary Center on Aging. Beyond creating programs for the Center, Jodi is also an advocate at the state capitol for issues facing older Coloradans. Here we talk with Jodi about two bills that aim to increase the number of medical providers for older adults in Colorado.

Read more about SB21-158: Loan Forgiveness for Geriatric-Trained Clinicians, and visit here to apply for loan forgiveness.

Read more about SB22-189: the Colorado Geriatric Provider Pipeline Program.

CHA director, Dr. Nicole Ehrhart, joins us to discuss regenerative medicine, a line of research that helps to repair or regrow damaged tissue and organs. Ehrhart discusses stem cell therapy as a foundation for regenerative medicine, and then explains a new, cutting-edge approach to addressing age-related diseases: extracellular vesicle therapy for sarcopenia.

Dr. Eric Chess is a physician, lawyer, and the Director of The Paul Freeman Financial Security Program at the Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging at the University of Denver. Here, we discuss the intersection of financial security and cognitive health, research at that intersection, as well as signs you can watch out for to recognize financial fraud.

Dr. Gwen Fisher is a researcher in CSU's Occupational Health Psychology Lab, which studies issues of worker health and well-being and characteristics of the work environment that impact individuals and organizations. This conversation is all about the future of work: trends, gaps, and hot topics surrounding the older adult workforce.

Audrey Ruple is the veterinary epidemiologist on the Dog Aging Project, an open access data science study to understand how genes, lifestyle, and environment influence aging. In this episode, we discuss genetic similarities between dogs and humans, the underrepresentation of diverse groups in human and canine studies, and how big data is revolutionizing diagnoses in translational medicine.

Cancer and aging share seven of the nine hallmarks of aging, meaning that the molecular mechanisms that prompt aging often promote cancer, too. We talk to James DeGregori, a professor in the University of Colorado School of Medicine, to sort out why cancer and aging share such similarities. DeGregori describes his lab's theory of adaptive oncogenesis, which views cancer through the lens of evolution, to answer: If we slow down aging, do we also slow down rates of cancer?

Dr. Kelly Hall, an associate professor of emergency and critical care at CSU, discusses physical trauma: serious injuries to the body, and how companion animals are teaching us about humans’ capacity for healing into older age. We also learn about about the Veterinary Committee on Trauma (VetCOT) that is developing a database of animal trauma cases and a network of hospitals and trauma systems to improve veterinary patient care in critical cases.

The National Institute on Aging defines aging in place as "staying in your own home as you get older," though there are many barriers to aging in place, including affordability, disability, and home design.

Assistant Professor of Design and Merchandising, Maria Delgado, introduces us to universal design standards that aim to make homes more accessible, and we learn about the affordable, sustainable, and visitable tiny home that Delgado's students are building for a lucky older adult.

Delgado is looking for older adult (55+) volunteers in Northern Colorado to provide user feedback to her students about their tiny home design. If interested, email Maria Delgado at Maria.Delgado@colostate.edu.

Dr. Jen Currin-McCulloch, a social worker at CSU, tells us about strategies for meaning-making at end of life: How do we pursue hope despite a debilitating diagnosis? How do we meaningfully reflect on our lives as time becomes more precious? Currin-McCulloch shares how we can communicate with ourselves, our loved ones, and our doctors as we reach the end of our lives.

Caregivers can find support resources at CSU's Aging Clinic of the Rockies, the Alzheimer’s Association, or the Larimer County Office on Aging.

Today's episode revisits every guest from Season 1 of living healthy longer and their best advice for healthy aging.

Our show will return for Season 2 in January 2022! Sign up for our newsletter at healthyaging.colostate.edu for updates in the meantime.

Assistant Professor Julie Moreno and recently graduated Ph.D. student Amanda Latham of CSU's Toxicology program join to discuss the surprising cognitive impacts of urinary tract infections. This episode explores how UTIs can lead to delirium and neurodegeneration, the role of the brain’s immune cells in this process, and why the Dunklin Hartley guinea pig is an ideal model for studies of the aging human brain. In spring 2023, Moreno’s lab received a pilot grant from the Center for Healthy Aging to conduct this research, and the preliminary results are shared today.

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Find Latham's tuberculosis publication in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

Read about the Hartley guinea pig as a model of human brain aging in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A.

The Colorado Longitudinal Study intends to build the world’s most comprehensive collection of biological samples from humans — longitudinally and paired with participants' medical histories and social determinants of health. Hear from Meredith Guerrero, COO of COLS, on what biobanking is and how COLS hopes to transform aging science and studies of human health.

Dr. Christine Lum Lung, CEO and founder of Origin Healthcare, introduces us to the hospital-at-home model of healthcare, which is bringing high-level, multidisciplinary care to patients in the comfort of their own homes. We discuss how hospital-at-home is different than a typical inpatient hospital stay, and how the current healthcare landscape is pushing providers toward new ways of delivering healthcare.

As dietary interventions, caloric restriction and intermittent fasting have been shown in animal studies to extend healthspan and reduce age-related diseases. Devin Wahl, a postdoctoral research associate in CSU's Healthspan Biology Lab, takes us through what caloric restriction and intermittent fasting are and why scientists believe they’re effective strategies to live longer and healthier.

Disclaimer: This episode is intended to provide general information about health and related subjects. The information should not be construed as personal medical advice. Please consult your health provider before making dietary changes.

Shelby Cox, RDN, director of the Kendall Reagan Nutrition Center at CSU, joins us to share general nutrition advice for healthy aging. We discuss how nutritional needs change as we get older and what a balanced diet includes for a healthy lifestyle. Cox shares strategies to make healthy eating easier and more convenient, and we cover a hot topic in aging research: using calorie restriction to boost healthspan.

Visit myplate.gov for more dietary guidance.

Read about the Mediterranean diet and MIND diet over on healthline.

Felix Duerr, an associate professor of Orthopedic Medicine and Mobility at CSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, is interested in solving musculoskeletal problems to improve quality of life. In this episode, we focus on arthritis and the treatments and therapies that Duerr is researching to benefit both humans and dogs. We discuss why the placebo effect makes it easier to study disorders in dogs and what we can do to prevent, rather than react to, mobility issues.

Professor Arlene Schmid is a researcher who blends occupational therapy with yoga interventions to help people with chronic disabilities and diseases. In this episode, we discuss the basics of yoga, how to engage in a practice if you’ve never done yoga before, and we discuss Schmid’s research on how yoga affects chronic pain, how it helps caregivers, and a new study that will examine what happens in the brains of people with brain injuries when they take part in a yoga intervention. 

To learn more about the yoga and brain injuries study, or to sign up as a participant, email CSU_scorelab@colostate.edu.

Peggy Budai, a nurse practitioner with the Older Adult and Palliative Care programs at UCHealth, tells us how she imagined the idea for a "hug tunnel" to combat social isolation when residents in long-term care facilities were unable to visit with family members during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

When we think about healthy aging, we often think of our diets, fitness routines, getting enough sleep — but how often do we think about the energy we put into our social networks? In this episode, Associate Professor Gloria Luong talks to us about the difference between social isolation and loneliness, why being alone isn’t exactly bad for you, and why the quality of your friendships matters more than the quantity. We also talk about how daily routines and stressors change with age.

Julie Moreno — an assistant professor in CSU's Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences — examines the mechanisms that prompt neurons and other brain cells to become inflamed, leading to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Here we discuss the processes that happen in the brain throughout neurodegeneration and what Moreno’s lab is doing to test potential therapies to slow down neurodegeneration. We also discuss a new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's, called Aduhelm (Aducanumab), that was approved by the FDA in early June: what it is and why there’s a debate surrounding it.

Professor Susan Bailey from CSU's Department of Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences joins us to discuss her project with the NASA Twins Study, an investigation of identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly that aims to identify factors in spaceflight that influence human health in preparation for human space exploration to the Moon or Mars.

Bailey tells us what her study reveals about aging in space, particularly how telomeres, the caps of our chromosomes, change with spaceflight — and what this means for aging on Earth and in orbit.

Read about Bailey's preliminary findings on telomeres in space here.

Find the Twins Study' scientists first publication in Science here.

Read the latest update on "The Biology of Spaceflight," a package of papers from 200 NASA Twins Study investigators, published in Cell Press in November 2020, here.

Grace Borlee, an assistant professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, describes an intergenerational learning project in which MIP students were paired with older adult volunteers to complete a lab experiment. The pilot project explores the benefits of intergenerational learning for both students and older adults, how students can practice communicating their science, and some learnings on how to recruit community volunteers for research participation.

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Learn more about the CURE Lab and their Spring 2024 lab here.

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 mnrlab@colostate.edu 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.