While birthdays are worth celebrating, ageing is the single biggest risk factor for the development of various diseases. Our guest, Dr. Laura Han, assistant professor at Amsterdam UMC, specialises in biological ageing, the way our bodies get older, and links it to psychiatry.

In this episode we explore the difference between calendar years (chronological age) and biological age. Biological ageing is the process of our bodies getting older. Laura explains organs age in different ways than others, “It looks as if there is not one unitary process that controls ageing in a unitary way. (..) You can think of it as a car, a car has many different parts, and some parts need replacement sooner than others, in a body that’s not very different”.

In her research, Laura Han connects biological ageing to psychiatry. Why? Because people living with mental illness show more signs of bodily wear and tear, compared to peers of the same age.  People experiencing depression, for example, show an ’older’ brain compared to their chronological age. In this podcast we discuss the consequences of this brain age gap. Laura explains: “I think the problem is chronic stress, when your biological stress systems are constantly activated (…) that is really when it starts to be more problematic: your cells, your body and your brain are getting more wear and tear.”

The main goal of studying biological ageing is to help people live healthier lives. The research looks at ways to improve the health and habits of the whole population. One important idea is using a person’s biological age to better predict their risk of getting sick, choose the best treatments, and find ways to prevent diseases. This could help doctors give more personalised care to each person. This conversation offers an intuitive perspective that could reshape how we approach personalised medicine.

Stress is complex and multifaceted and we all experience it in our daily lives. In this podcast we talk to various experts about stress. We talk about the latest developments in stress research and approach stress from various angles: physiology, emotion, cognition, behaviour and context. Stress Navigation is part of the 10-year research project Stress in Action. Marcos Ross is a PhD candidate at Amsterdam UMC and interviews our guests in the English episodes.