244 Panic, Anxiety and the Aging Brain: A Trauma-Informed Approach with Dr. Nicole Cain
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
Release Date: 01/12/2026
107 Lori Aloisio: Holistic Harmony: Secrets of Lasting Weightloss
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
In this Flashback Friday EPISODE OF GROWING OLDER LIVING YOUNGER, we focus on helping women to achieve sustainable weight loss through uncovering the underlying beliefs leading to excess weight gain. Today’s Featured Guest is Lori Aloisio, holistic health coach and registered nurse. Lori's passion for helping and healing initially led her to become a registered nurse but she always viewed health and well being from a holistic perspective. Knowing that she needed to look at a larger picture to understand the many factors that contribute to illness and disease, Lori went on to study...
info_outline
260 From Self Doubt to Self Trust: Reframing Midlife through Biology, Beauty and Brain Science with Natalya Borakowski
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
In this conversation with Dr. Gillian Lockitch, Dr. Natalya Borakowski explains the neurological remodeling and hormonal shifts that occur during perimenopause and menopause — and why these changes can trigger identity disruption and appearance anxiety. You’ll learn how understanding the biology behind midlife can restore self-trust, reduce fear, and support aging youthfully. Midlife often arrives with an unexpected sense of instability. Women describe feeling anxious, self-critical, emotionally reactive, or disconnected from their reflection — even when medical tests show nothing...
info_outline
105 Dr. Vera Tarman: Food Addiction- A Silent Killer.
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
THIS Flashback Friday EPISODE OF GROWING OLDER LIVING YOUNGER focuses on food addiction, in particular addiction to sugar and refined carbohydrates.Today’s Featured Expert is Dr. Vera Tarman, author of Food Junkies: Recovery from Food Addiction, cohost of the popular Food Junkies Podcast and founder of the Facebook group called “I’m Sweet Enough: Sugar-Free for Life.”We discuss the reality and the pathophysiology of sugar addiction, how to know whether you have an addiction and the impact that corporate sponsorship of research and disease-focused organizations have on the...
info_outline
259 Food, Metabolism, Weight Gain: Why Calorie Counts, Willpower and Diets Keep Failing Us as We Age
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
Why does weight loss feel harder with age—even when we “do everything right”? In this episode, award-winning health journalist Julia Belluz challenges the calorie-centric narrative of weight control and explains how metabolism, hormones, food environments, and ultra-processed foods shape how—and why—we eat. This conversation reframes weight, aging, and health through evidence rather than diet dogma.For decades, we’ve been told that weight control is simply a matter of discipline: eat less, move more, and the scale will comply. Yet for many people—especially as they age—this...
info_outline
093 Bob Schafer: Train Your Brain while Playing Games
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
Flashback Friday re-post of most popular episodes THIS EPISODE OF GROWING OLDER LIVING YOUNGER focuses on improving your cognitive functioning through playing computer brain training games.Today’s Featured Expert discussing the neuroscience of cognitive training and the Lumosity brain training program, is Bob Schafer, President of Lumos Labs Medical, and Chief Science Officer at Lumos Labs (Lumosity)We discuss the neuroscience of cognition and Lumos Labs Human Cognition Project, how the Lumosity platform is built around training cognitive skills through engaging digital games, what you, the...
info_outline
258 Backpain, Aging and Mobility: Prevention, Treatment or Surgery with Dr. Gbolahan Okubadejo
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
Back pain is one of the most common causes of reduced mobility and loss of independence as we age. In this episode, spine surgeon Dr. Gbolahan Okubadejo explains the causes of back and neck pain, when conservative treatment is appropriate, and when spine surgery may become the best option for restoring mobility and quality of life. Chronic back and neck often trigger fear. Many people assume pain is inevitable, that surgery always leads to long downtime, or that recovery means permanent limitation. In this episode, we explore modern advances in spine care, recovery, and how the right...
info_outline
147 John Nolan PhD. Nutrients for Your Eyes and Brain: The Magic of Marigolds
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
EPISODE 147 OF GROWING OLDER LIVING YOUNGER focuses on protecting eye, brain and overall health with the antioxidant carotenoid pigments, especially lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin, as determined in the Central Retinal Enrichment Supplementation Clinical Trials (CREST). Download my free that explains the wellness benefits and food sources of these protective nutrients. To tell us how key nutrients can protect our eyes from macular degeneration, and help preserve memory and mental acuity, I talk with today’s Featured Expert, Professor John Nolan. He is a Fulbright Scholar, and a...
info_outline
257 Integrating Western Biometrics and Traditional Chinese Medicine to Rethink Preventive Aging Care with Ryan Yuen
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
Modern medicine excels at treating disease, less so at prevention. In this episode, we explore how wearable technology powered by artificial intelligence is bringing together Western physiology biometrics and Traditional Chinese Medicine to support true preventive health. Ryan Yuen shares how continuous monitoring of subtle body signals can help identify imbalance long before symptoms appear—and what this means for healthy longevity. Aging well is not about acccepting decline—it’s about identifying early warning signs and supporting body balance before disease is established....
info_outline
098 Kathleen Nadeau, PhD. Still Distracted? Could ADHD in our Elders be Mistaken for Dementia?
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
THIS EPISODE OF GROWING OLDER LIVING YOUNGER focuses on ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in older adults. Today’s Featured Expert is Kathleen Nadeau, PhD. We discuss how unrecognized ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) may impact healthy aging and perhaps be confused with dementia in an older person; and whether there are alternative strategies to medication Speaker BioDr. Kathleen Nadeau is an internationally recognized authority on ADHD across the lifespan and is the author of 15 books related to ADHD. Her most recent book, Still Distracted After All...
info_outline
256 Living with Dementia: We Are Still Here so Don't Walk Away with Marilyn Raichle
Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,
Dementia is one of the greatest fears associated with aging—but what if it didn’t have to mean loss, disappearance, or despair? In this deeply moving episode, author and arts innovator Marilyn Raichle shares how walking toward her mother, rather than away, transformed dementia into a journey of presence, creativity, connection, and joy. This conversation offers a profoundly human reframe of memory loss and aging. For many people, dementia is equated with the loss of self, meaning, and value. Families are often advised—explicitly or implicitly—to disengage emotionally, preparing for...
info_outlineChronic stress and anxiety are not just emotional experiences; they can quietly accelerate biological aging and undermine brain health. In this episode of Growing Older Living Younger, Dr. Gillian Lockitch speaks with integrative mental health expert Dr. Nicole Cain about how anxiety, panic, trauma, and unresolved stress shape the nervous system across the lifespan. Dr. Cain explains the critical differences between fear, anxiety, and panic, and how symptoms often serve as meaningful signals rather than disorders to suppress. This rich conversation offers science-backed, compassionate strategies to restore calm, improve resilience, and support healthy aging from the inside out.
Dr. Nicole Cain is a licensed naturopathic physician based in Arizona with a master’s degree in clinical psychology. She is a pioneer in trauma-informed, integrative mental health care, blending medical science, psychotherapy, EMDR, nutrition, and nervous system regulation to address anxiety and mood disorders at their roots. Dr. Cain is the author of Panic Proof: How to Rewire Your Brain for Calm in a Chaotic World and host of the Holistic Inner Balance podcast.
Episode Timeline
00:00 – Welcome and episode framing -Dr. Gillian Lockitch introduces the theme of retraining the brain for calm, focus, and joy as we age.
03:33 – Dr. Cain’s personal journey into anxiety healing -A childhood shaped by hyper-attunement, family stress, and early medicalization of anxiety.
05:14 – Medication, burnout, and the limits of symptom suppression =How conventional approaches failed to resolve root causes and led to a pivotal turning point.
07:29 – Seasonal illness, stress, and nervous system patterns -Exploring how environment, family dynamics, and stress imprint the immune system.
08:27 – Anxiety versus panic - Clarifying distinctions between fear, anxiety, and panic through lived experience and physiology.
11:19 – Fear of change and uncertainty - How major life transitions can activate panic responses even in resilient individuals.
16:39 – Agency as the antidote to anxiety - Why reclaiming personal authority calms the nervous system more than explanations alone.
19:57 – Stress, inflammation, and accelerated aging - How chronic cortisol exposure affects the gut, brain, and immune system over time.
20:27 – The gut-brain axis and anxiety - A clinical example showing how gut inflammation drives cognitive and emotional decline.
24:53 – Trauma-informed care and adaptive events - Reframing trauma as adaptation and understanding when survival strategies become maladaptive.
28:52 – Personalized nutrition and body awareness - Why no single diet fits everyone and how curiosity leads to sustainable healing.
33:36 – Interoception and mindful self-observation - Learning to listen to the body without panic, avoidance, or over-fixing.
37:09 – Mindset, neuroplasticity, and imagination - How intention and mental rehearsal reshape brain wiring and biological outcomes.
40:43 – A simple breath practice for immediate calm - Using breath and vagal tone to restore balance and resilience.
Resources & Links Mentioned
Dr. Nicole Cain
Panic Proof: How to Rewire Your Brain for Calm in a Chaotic World by Dr. Nicole Cain
The Holistic Inner Balance Podcast
https://www.instagram.com/
https://www.facebook/
https://www.
Call to Action
Invite Your Friends to Subscribe to Growing Older Living Younger on their favorite podcast platform. Leave a review to help others discover the Growing Older Living Younger show.
Explore your personal roadmap to longer healthspan and emotional resilience by connecting with Dr. Gillian Lockitch at askdrgill@gmail.com