The Stress Puzzle

Investing in Adolescence: Positive emotions, prosocial learning, and the digital landscape for interventions with Dr. Ronald Dahl

Today's episode builds on the discussion of puberty as a sensitive period from the previous episode with Dr. Megan Gunnar. Featuring developmental scientist Dr. Ronald Dahl, this conversation explores early adolescence as a pivotal transition, highlighting the unique vulnerabilities and opportunities for positive growth during this formative window. Dr. Dahl emphasizes the importance of supporting prosocial learning, cultivating positive emotions, and addressing inequities through integrative, i...

Recalibration of Early Life Stress Systems: Impact of puberty with Dr. Megan Gunnar

For today's episode, I had the honor of speaking with Dr. Megan Gunnar, a developmental psychologist who discusses her research on early life adversity and stress biology showing the importance of puberty as a window of biological flexibility. Dr. Gunnar discussed work from earlier in her career that led her to pursue these questions through an interdisciplinary lens. Tune in next month to hear more on the importance of adolescence from Dr. Ronald Dahl . Dr. Megan Gunnar is a Regents Professor a...

Stress, Immunity, and Illness: Insights from experimental common cold studies on holiday susceptibility

Can you believe it's almost the end of 2024?! Join me for a conversation with Dr. Aric Prather about stress, sleep, and social experiences at the holidays + what we know about links between those and our susceptibility to infections and severity of illness. We chatted about foundational knowledge drawn from studies where people are experimentally exposed to rhinovirus (aka the common cold) before moving to a conversation about health behaviors through the holidays. We hope this episode encourage...

Stress Beyond the Individual: The physiological cost of caring with Dr. Tené Lewis

Welcome back to the Stress Puzzle! This is the second of two episodes highlighting winners of the Stress Measurement Network's (SMN) Stress Science Paper Award . Today we'll hear from the lead author of the winning paper in the Human Empirical/Clinical category, Dr. Tené Lewis. We discussed the findings of their paper, which highlights the importance of stress experienced by close loved ones (e.g., family, friends) for African-American women's cardiovascular health. We also chatted about the str...

The Energetic Cost of Chronic Stress with Dr. Natalia Bobba-Alves

Welcome back to the Stress Puzzle! This is the first of two episodes highlighting winners of the Stress Measurement Network's (SMN) Stress Science Paper Award . Today we'll hear from the lead author of the winning paper in the Basic Science category, Dr. Natalia Bobba-Alves. We discussed the findings and implications of their paper (particularly around hypermetabolism, chronic stress, and accelerated cellular aging), directions to move the field forward, and how exciting of a moment it is for in...

Primate Politics: Intergenerational and experimental evidence with Dr. Jenny Tung

Welcome back to the Stress Puzzle! I had the joy of speaking with Dr. Jenny Tung, an evolutionary anthropologist and geneticist who discusses her intergenerational and experimental research showing how the social environment affects health and lifespan in non-human primates. She shared about her creative methods to experiment with social hierarchies and the special experience of collaborating with the other women who have led the Amboseli Baboon Research Project in Kenya. For more on human hiera...

Human Hierarchies and Health: Epidemiological evidence with Dr. Michael Marmot

Welcome back to the Stress Puzzle! For this episode, I was joined by Dr. Michael Marmot who is an expert on social status and health. We discussed his seminal work on the Whitehall Studies of British Civil Servants, translating research into policy, and how he remains an "evidence-based optimist" through it all. Tune in next month to hear about complementary research conducted by Dr. Jenny Tung on social status and health in nonhuman primates! Dr. Michael Marmot is a Professor of Epidemiology at...

Slavich on Stress: Complexities, history, and future

Welcome back to the Stress Puzzle! For our second episode, I was joined by Dr. George Slavich who is an expert on the conceptualization, assessment, and management of life stress. In this conversation, we talked about the history of how stress has been thought of and measured, the limitations of many of these approaches, and the kind of research we need moving forward to really be able to translate the science to be actionable in people's lives. Dr. George Slavich is a Professor in the Departmen...

Good Stress and Bad Stress: Measurement in a world of wearables

Welcome to the first episode of the Stress Puzzle! For this episode, I was joined by experts in the field of stress, Dr. Elissa Epel and Dr. Wendy Berry Mendes. Dr. Elissa Epel has focused on linking chronic stress to health, and Dr. Wendy Berry Mendes has focused on characterizing acute stress responses. They've been working together for over 10 years and have been co-leading the Stress Measurement Network. In this conversation, we discussed challenges and opportunities in the field of stress s...

Introducing The Stress Puzzle