Stress: The New Biological Clock -- How we can turn it back (3/3/11)

Stress: The New Biological Clock – How We Can Turn It Back

Elissa Epel, Ph.D., Health Psychologist, UCSF

Calvin Harley, Ph.D., pioneer in telomere biology

Jue Lin, Ph.D., Telomere/telomerase assay specialist in Elizabeth Blackburn's lab, UCSF

Thea Singer, Author, Stress Less

Groundbreaking science by Nobel Prize Winner Elizabeth Blackburn and health psychologist Elissa Epel links psychological stress not only with disease but directly with aging, all the way down to our cells – in particular, our “telomeres,” the caps on the ends of our chromosomes that protect our DNA and a marker of biological aging. Indeed, the subjects in those studies who perceived themselves as being under the most stress had telomeres that were the equivalent of 10 years older than the telomeres of those who perceived themselves as being under the least stress. Stress Less, science/health writer Singer’s new book, springs from Blackburn and Epel’s remarkable discovery; it enlists a veritable Who’s Who of stress and telomere researchers to explore this new science as well as the cutting-edge research that shows how we can slow, or even turn back, that ticking clock. Join a discussion of the implications of this ongoing revolutionary research with the scientists at the center of the research.

This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on March 3, 2011