HoldsUp

Elissa Epel

University of California, San Francisco

Elissa Epel, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, where she directs the Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Center. Her research focuses on stress biology and the mechanisms underlying healthy and cellular aging. Her published work investigates the relationships between perceived stress, telomere dynamics, eating behaviors, metabolic health, and social factors.

41 claims checked on air: 1 context 1 contradicted 2 overstated 34 supported 3 unverified 3 flagged

What they said on air - contradicted

0:29:06contradictedlowDr. Elissa Epel on Telomeres and the Role of Stress Biology

Studies by Eli Puterman show that exercise reduces ruminative thought processes.

"Your n of 1 has also been shown up in, you know, studies of exercise and studies by Eli Puterman showing that exercise actually does reduce ruminative processes." (said at 0:29:06)

The speaker mischaracterizes the findings of research led by Eli Puterman. In the primary published study on this topic by Puterman and colleagues (2011), physical activity was examined as a moderator of the physiological stress response, not as an intervention that reduced rumination itself. The study found that being physically active buffered the body against the adverse effects of stressor-induced rumination on cortisol reactivity and recovery (i.e., active individuals did not show the elevated and prolonged cortisol output seen in sedentary individuals who ruminated), but it did not show that exercise reduced ruminative thought processes.

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