We sat down with Kiecolt-Glaser to discuss her current work and to learn more about her perspective on wellness.
What are you working on now?
One segment of my current research focuses on the ways in which stress and depression alter metabolic responses to meals. An initial study showed that women who had experienced more recent stressors burned fewer calories after a fast-food type meal, and also had both lower fat oxidation and higher insulin levels compared with women with fewer stressors. Burning fewer calories leads to weight gain. People with lower fat oxidation are also more likely to gain weight by storing fat than those with higher fat oxidation, so their risk for obesity is increased. Higher levels of insulin foster fat storage. These adverse changes would all promote obesity. This study also showed that depression substantially augments triglyceride responses to high saturated fat meals in ways that promote heart disease. Depression has well-established effects on heart disease morbidity and mortality, and these meal-related changes highlighted a previously unrecognized depression-sensitive pathway.
Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser on Stress
We all need to be better informed about stress. What should we know to increase our stress IQ?
Think about stress as feeling overloaded, out of control, unable to cope; those kinds of feelings are a red flag, a warning to take stock and think about how to take care of yourself. The issue is that we often have blinders on precisely when we experience those kinds of feelings, and we ignore the danger signals.
Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser on Resilience
How do you define resilience?
The general meaning of resilience is the ability to recover quickly from misfortune. That kind of definition bothers me, because troubles come in so many shapes and sizes, and the impact of various difficulties varies greatly among individuals. Additionally, individuals may be quite “resilient” when they only have one stressor on their plate, but a trio of stressors may leave them gasping for air, figuratively. Does that mean those same individuals aren’t resilient? So, broadly, I think of resilience as less trait-like than the popular definitions.
We all at one time or another have a life experience that challenges our resilience. Can you describe what you learned about your own resilience after such an experience?
My husband’s disappearance into Alzheimer’s from 2014 to 2019 has been the most challenging period in my own life. I certainly had ample time to prepare: When he received a diagnosis of “mild cognitive impairment” in 2011, I could read the neurologist’s note upside down and it said, “Probable early Alzheimer’s.” I knew how rough the landscape could get because our own research had shown how caregiving for a spouse with dementia affects one’s mental and physical health. I had tremendous advantages compared with many caregivers — a wonderfully supportive sister and terrific friends, a job I enjoyed that gave me a life outside of caregiving, and funds to pay for my husband’s care. Those things kept me from slipping into despair as I watched his lovely mind and personality disappearing. So, while I think that some people are better able to bounce back from some stressors than others, I know that it’s far more than one’s personal resources that make a difference.
