Understanding Hormesis: Why Stress and Adversity Make Us Physically and Mentally Stronger”

<p>I know we’ve all heard of the old saying “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” but have you ever wondered if science could open our eyes to what exactly this means? I’ve wondered this, and it led me to this week’s Brain Fact Friday where we will explore hormesis or the idea that “short, intermittent bursts of stressors can actually trigger a cascade of cellular processes that enhance overall health, slow aging, and make you more resilient to future stress (both physical and mental).”<a href='#_edn1'>[i]</a></p> <p>On this episode you will learn:</p> <p> ✔︎ How our cells respond to short, intermittent periods of stress.</p> <p>✔︎ A look into 2 pathways that are important for longevity (The Sirtuin and mTOR).</p> <p>✔︎ 4 Ways to boost our health, using hormesis or stress, making us physically and mentally stronger.</p> <p>For those new, or returning guests, welcome back! I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of you who tune in, have been fascinated with learning, understanding, and applying the most current brain research to improve productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. The purpose of this podcast is to take the mystery out of this new discipline that backs our learning with simple neuroscience to make it applicable for us all to use right away, for immediate results.</p> <p>I had no idea while initially researching for this episode that neuroscientist and tenured professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Andrew Huberman, would be hosting Dr. David Sinclair<a href='#_edn2'>[ii]</a> (a Professor in the Department of Genetics from Harvard Medical School) on the Huberman Lab Podcast this week, and covering this very topic on “The Biology of Slowing and Reversing Aging”<a href='#_edn3'>[iii]</a> where the idea of hormesis was discussed throughout. I do recommend this episode for those who want to take a deeper dive into the science of anti-aging, longevity