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 Spri...

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...

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 off...

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 a...

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 histo...

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 com...

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 innovatio...

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 m...

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 hea...

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.

Aging can be defined as the accumulation of small amounts of damage in our bodies across our lifetimes. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Nicole Ehrhart about the hallmarks of aging: nine cellular and molecular mechanisms of aging that are shared among all humans and are considered to be the drivers of aging. We discuss how aging relates to regenerative medicine and cancer, how dogs might be the k...

Welcome to living healthy longer, a new podcast from the Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging at Colorado State University. Episodes drop every other Monday. Subscribe now to hear the latest in the biological, cognitive, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of getting older—from research happening at Colorado State University, to interventions and community programs supportin...