Dr. George Slavich is a leading expert in the conceptualization, assessment, and management of life stress and it's relationship to poor health. He is the founding Director of the Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research at UCLA whose goal is "to advance the science of stress and health to help prevent disease and improve human health and resilience worldwide."
Since beginning his career as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Slavich has been researching the relationship between stress and health for over 20 years. His area of focus is psychoneuroimmunology, which studies the effect of the mind on health and resistance to disease. By integrating tools from psychology, neuroscience, immunology, biology, genetics, and genomics, Dr. Slavich’s research has provided new insights into the inflammatory response to social stress and helped to pioneer a new field of research called human social genomics. He has also developed the first online system for measuring lifetime stress exposure called the Stress and Adversity Inventory (STRAIN), and proposed a new theory called the Social Safety Theory, which hypothesizes that developing and maintaining friendly social bonds is a fundamental organizing principle of human behavior and that threats to social safety are a critical feature of psychological stressors that increase risk for disease.
Dr. Slavich completed undergraduate and graduate coursework in psychology and communication at Stanford University, and received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon. After graduate school, he was a clinical psychology intern at McLean Hospital in Boston and a clinical fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He subsequently completed three years of NIMH-supported postdoctoral training in psychoneuroimmunology at UCSF and UCLA. He is presently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA, a Research Scientist at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, and the Founding Director of the UCLA Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research. His research has been covered by many media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Scientific American, TIME Magazine, HBO, NPR, U.S. News & World Report, and others.
In this episode, we talk about the science behind how stress impacts our body down to the level of gene expression and immune system activation, what type of stressors seem to have the biggest impact on our health, some of the things we can do to mitigate the negative impact of stress, and how measuring stress may improve our ability to address it on a large scale. We also talked about how Dr. Slavich's work provides insight into the current coronavirus pandemic including the impact of stress on chronic systemic inflammation, why we should be practicing physical distancing instead of social distancing, and how best to communicate with others during this time to preserve the protective effects of social bonds on our health.
Bio adapted from uclastresslab.org
You can connect with Dr. Slavich via Instagram. @uclastresslab
Related episodes:
Ep 105 - Sleep, Stress and Brain Health with Dr. Nate Bergman
Ep 135 - Immune System Strength with Dr. Leonard Calabrese
If you like this episode, please subscribe to Pursuing Health on iTunes and give it a rating or share your feedback on social media using the hashtag #PursuingHealth. I look forward to bringing you future episodes with inspiring individuals and ideas about health.
Disclaimer: This podcast is for general information only, and does not provide medical advice. I recommend that you seek assistance from your personal physician for any health conditions or concerns.
Living and training with Type 1 Diabetes with Brendan Snyder PH46
Dan Bailey on Moving West, Training for 2017 and Danny Broflex PH45
5 Tips for New Year Nutrition and The HealthySelf Reset with BeingBrigid - PH44
Jason Wachob: Founder and CEO of mindbodygreen and Inspiration To Live Your Best Life - PH43
Against All Grain's Danielle Walker on Advocating, Healing, and Celebrating PH42
Graham and Savanna Holmberg: From Fittest Man, to Faith and Family - PH41
CrossFit to prepare for and recover from total knee replacements with David Mendenhall - PH40
Nutrition challenges and Practical Paleo with Diane Sanfilippo - PH39
Micronutrients and quality supplementation with Oliver Amdrup and Julius Heslet - PH38
PH37 Steph Hammerman on overcoming obstacles, teaching CrossFit, and crushing cancer
PH36b Dominique Moceanu on gymnastics, healing, and health
PH36 Dominique Moceanu on gymnastics, healing, and health
PH35 Coach Greg Glassman on CrossFit, Chronic Disease, and the "5 Buckets of Death"
PH34 Sal Masekela on his Achilles rupture, growing from setbacks, and CrossFit family
PH33 Bob Harper on CrossFit, The Biggest Loser, and prioritizing health
PH32 Pete Servold on fine dining, Paleo, and making the most of your meal prep
PH31 Robert Porter and his coach Patrick Flannery on losing 90 pounds with CrossFit and finding the right community for you
PH30 Nadia Johnston on how CrossFit helped her to overcome eating disorders and depression
PH29 Dave Castro on applying lessons learned as a SEAL, his daily routine, and directing the CrossFit Games
PH28 James Hobart on teaching, competing, and the real purpose of CrossFit
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Good Mood Revolution
HyberNation: Sleep Stories and Meditations
Good Nurse Bad Nurse
The Relaxback UK Show
Nothing much happens: bedtime stories to help you sleep
این نقطه