Aging, Metabolism and Emotion Center

Elissa describes “The Telomere Effect” at the Sydney, AU, 2019 Annual conference: Happiness and its Causes. 

“When does aging begin?” is a fundamental question whose answers will help inform all aspects of research, clinical practice and healthcare policy. There is an emerging consensus on an answer that is broad but captures some of the uncertainty at present: Aging begins before we observe it or experience it. Investigators who study the life course of aging and from the emerging field of geroscience will make brief presentations of their hypotheses and then challenge or seek to modify each other’s proposals through a guided panel discussion. Importantly, there will be consideration of how the hypotheses could be supported experimentally. It is hoped that the outcomes might stimulate new understanding and insightful areas of research.

We’re born, we grow old, we die. It’s a rhythm long considered inevitable. But is it? Or is aging merely a disease awaiting a cure? Will science one day stave off aging or even reverse it? Join us as four top scientists explore the biology of aging and recent breakthroughs that, according to some, could have people living healthfully to 120 or beyond by the end of this century. Would you want to?

Chancellor Sam Hawgood interviewed Drs. Elissa Epel and Aric Prather about The Stress Prescription and the Sleep Prescription UCSF Alumni Day. It was a lively discussion and lots of questions about stress and sleep, both personal and job-related.

Dr. Elissa Epel gives a 5 minute overview of mechanisms of chronic stress and aging biology, including intergenerational transmission at the National Academy of Science Health and Medicine Division. 

Oct 24, 2015

The Science of Aging by ASAP Science is an animated 2-minute story of how we age and the role of Telomeres. 

Mar 7, 2013

Dr. Elissa Epel gives speaks about stress and its effect on cellular aging and telomere length at TEDMED 2011. 

Jan 9, 2012

Dr. Eli Puterman discusses the function of telomeres and chromosomes and how telomere length can be a marker for an aging immune system at the Osher Mini Med School for the Public. 

May 8, 2018

Dr. Elissa Epel, UCSF health psychologist, looks at social and psychobiological difficulties involved with caregiving and offers practical advice for managing stress, especially in women at the 2013 Osher Mini Medical School for the Public.

March 4, 2013

Dr. Elissa Epel gave a talk at the National Academy of Sciences Food Forum, on Nutrition and Mental Health. This webinar explored the relationship between nutrition and dietary patterns and the aging brain. Speakers discussed an overview of the dimensions of cognitive health, nutrition and specific nutrients for cognitive function, and the relationship between nutrition and mental health in older adults.

An increasing number of scientific studies suggest that food, like drugs or alcohol, can have addictive qualities. Food addiction is a disease which causes loss of control over the ability to stop eating certain foods. Dr. Ashley Mason gives a lecture about food addiction and three people share their personal experiences and how they came through at the COAST Lecture series "Science Behind Optimal Metabolic Health and Nutrition: Adding Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years."

March 13, 2018

Sugar scientist and UCSF professor of health policy Laura Schmidt questions whether consumers really do have freedom of choice – and what policymakers can learn from corporations in nudging consumers toward healthier behaviors in her 2016 TEDMED Lecture. 

Jul 7, 2016

Sugar Science experts Laura A. Schmidt, PhD, MSW, MPH; Dean Schillinger, MD; and Cristin E. Kearns, DDS, MBA from UCSF share the latest research findings on sugar and its impact on health at the UCSF’s Living Well initiative. 

The speakers make up the team of SugarScience.org, an organization at UCSF made up of uniquely qualified scientists from a wide spectrum of medical research specialties in some of the nation's top universities, including UCSF, UC Davis and Emory University. 

May 6, 2015

Dr. Eli Puterman explores the health benefits of physical activity at the 2018 Osher Mini Medical School for the Public. 

June, 2018

While more people have been meditating, exercising and sleeping to promote life longevity, an upcoming trial at University of California, San Francisco is looking at how different breathing techniques may actually slow aging. Megyn Kelly TODAY talks with Elissa Epel and Aric Prather, two of the three scientists leading the study, about submitting their research to be considered for the Palo Alto Longevity Prize, worth $1 million.

Oct 19, 2018

Drs. Elissa Epel and Steven Cole of UCLA School of Medicine and HopeLab discuss telomeres, stress and cellular aging and how mindfulness and meditation may improve adverse gene expression at Wisdom 2.0 in 2013. 

Mar 28, 2013

Dr. Elissa Epel discusses the AME Center's current ongoing studies in regards to stress, telomeres, mindfulness and meditation with Dave Simpson at Stanford University, hosted by The Center for Compassion and Aulturism Research and Education (CCARE). 

Nov 15, 2018

AME Researchers are highlighted in this 7-part series on the obesity epidemic and the dire threat it poses to global public health.

Millions have watched Dr. Robert Lustig's YouTube videos on the role sugar plays in obesity. In this compilation of the popular YouTube series "The Skinny on Obesity," Dr. Lustig and his UCSF colleagues dig deeper into the root causes of the obesity epidemic.

Barbara Abrams DrPH, RD. Professor of Epidemiology, Maternal and Child Health, and Public Health Nutrition; Head, Epidemiology/Biostatistics Program, UC Berkeley. Recorded on 05/20/2014. Series: "UCSF Center for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 28517]

The pace of modern life is a key contributor to today's obesity epidemic. UCSF's Elissa Epel and Barbara Laraia explain the stress connection and offer practical and effective solutions that don't involve dieting and exercise.

Dr. Aric Prather discusses how social stressors and relationships can act like environmental toxins, a concept called the "social exposome."

Dr. Elissa Epel gives a five minute summary of the topics and research discussed in the 2018 SSEW Exposome and Metabolic Health Symposium 

An HBO/IOM/CDC sponsored 4-part Documentary addressing the obesity epidemic featuring many researchers, including Yale's Rudd Center (Kelly Brownell, Marlene Schwartz, Rebecca Puhl) and the UCSF study on mindful eating (Episode 2). Premiered May 14th and 15th, 2012. You can now watch it online.

Dr.Elissa Epel and other experts speak on Food Addiction at the Commonwealth Club of California.

Barbara Laraia, PhD, UC Berkeley, reveals why neighborhoods and stress have a major impact on obesity and pregnancy.

Expert panel explores the relation of food insecurity, stress and nutrition. Panelists: Janet Tomiyama, UCLA – The Stigma of Obesity; Deborah Cohen, RAND Corporation – Stress and Built Environments; Barbara Laraia, UC Berkeley – Food Insecurity.

Barbara Laraia, PhD, discusses the future of interventions relating to stress, obesity, and pregnancy.

Sleep scientist Aric A. Prather, PhD, is challenged to explain the topic of sleep to 5 different people; a child, a teen, a college student, a grad student, and an expert.

Dr. Aric Prather explores the effect sleep loss has on our health and every day living. He looks at the relationship of sleep to metabolism and inflammatory disease.

Gunnar Peterson talks with Dr. Aric Prather, Assistant Professor at University of California San Francisco, about the importance of sleep. They address top questions from the MWI community. This is a community dialogue so please post or PM your questions, experiences, or insights about sleep to MWI's Facebook page.

Dr. Jennifer Felder, PhD, presents her PTBi fellowship research during the July 2017 Transdisciplinary Fellowship Showcase on understanding and improving perinatal depression.

Elissa Epel discusses the impacts of stress on your body and what you can do to protect, strengthen, and repair it.

Stressed out about coronavirus? Or everything else? Americans are some of the most stressed-out people in the world. But according to UCSF’s Dr. Elissa Epel, not all stress is the same. Hint: It’s all about *how* you react to the things that stress you out.

March 24, 2020

The APS 2014 Presidential Symposium, hosted by President Liz Phelps, focused on stress mechanisms. More videos can be seen here. Everyday life is full of frustrations and demands that lead to stress. Stress results in a host of neurohormonal changes that can both enhance and impair adaptive function.

Dr. Carter Lebares gives an introductory lesson on enhanced stress resilience training for physicians. 

This mini documentary, made by Michanek Gunnar of Stockholm, is a fantastic introduction to mindfulness by Jon Kabat Zinn, with a little Swedish commentary, and a little on telomerase relations.

Dr. Cindy Leung explains the novel mechanism of stress in the relation between food insecurity and health.

Jon Kabat Zinn and Elissa Epel talk to a group in Dallas, Texas about science, contemplative wisdom, and applications. Sponsored by Lynn Lectures and Momentus Institute. 

Dr. Alexandra Croswell describes how experiencing psychological stress impacts cognitive and physical health across the lifespan, and how to utilize "good stress" responses and other tools to build stress resilience.

Dr. Alexandra Croswell discusses the Stress Measurement Network, its tools and goals for stress research. 

Dr. Elissa Epel gives a lecture, at the 2014 APS Presidential Symposium, about chronic stress and cellular aging. 

A documentary by the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research focusing on 3 of our UCSF studies - SAGE, MAMAS, and SEED.

Is stress just in your head or can its impact be physical? Owen M. Wolkowitz, MD examines how stress and depression can affect the body on a cellular level and shares treatment and lifestyle interventions that can help.