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284 Light, Sleep and Movement: Upstream Signals That Shape Healthy Aging with Dr. Sean Fletch

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

Release Date: 09/07/2026

285 Hearing Loss and Brain Health - Why Better Hearing May Aid in Supporting Healthy Longevity with Robert C Keefer PhD

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

Could difficulty hearing conversations today affect your brain health, independence and quality of life in the years ahead? Hearing loss is often treated as a minor inconvenience of growing older, yet it can affect communication, relationships, social connection, confidence and independence. In this episode, Dr. Gillian Lockitch speaks with hearing-health advocate and author Robert “Bob” Keefer, MD, about the association between hearing loss and cognitive decline, why so many people delay seeking help for hearing deficits and what questions to ask before choosing a hearing-care provider....

284 Light, Sleep and Movement: Upstream Signals That Shape Healthy Aging with Dr. Sean Fletch

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

Health care professionals emphasize optimizing cholesterol, blood sugar and hormone levels and from that assessing biological age. These measurements can provide useful information, but do they tell us whether the body is still resilient, adaptable and capable of recovering from illness, injury or stress? In this episode, Dr. Gillian Lockitch and Dr. Sean Fletch explore the difference between moving a laboratory number into the desired range, and addressing the upstream conditions that caused it to change. Dr. Fletch reframes healthspan as more than the number of years lived...

283 Seven Pillars for Healthy Longevity. How I Built my Healthspan Routine and How You can Build Your Own

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

What does a physician-scientist actually do each day to support her own healthy aging? This is a question Dr. Gillian Lockitch hears often. Her answer is not a prescription, a shopping list or a collection of fashionable biohacks. Healthy longevity is personal: our genetics, health histories, medications, priorities and goals differ, so the most useful routine is one designed for the individual. In this solo episode, Dr. Gillian organizes her approach around the seven pillars of healthy longevity described in her book, Growing Older, Living Younger. She explains how epigenetics offers a more...

282 From Employee to First-time Entrepreneur at 70: Challenging Life After Retirement with Dr. Gillian Lockitch

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

Could retirement actually become the beginning of your most meaningful work? In this personal solo episode, Dr. Gillian Lockitch shares how spinal surgery, ballroom dancing, entrepreneurship and podcasting transformed her understanding of healthy longevity. You’ll discover why curiosity, consistency and a renewed sense of purpose can help you remain mentally sharp, physically engaged and excited about the future at any age. For most of her professional life, Dr. Gillian Lockitch was a physician, medical biochemist, researcher, university professor and department head. She expected...

281 Healthy Longevity Starts Now. Fitness, Nutrition, and Aging Well with Carl Daikeler

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

What helps people stay active, strong, and independent as they age—luck, genetics, or habits built years earlier? In this episode of Growing Older Living Younger, Dr. Gillian Lockitch speaks with Carl Daikeler, co-founder and CEO of BODi, about why healthy longevity is rooted in consistency: regular movement, supportive nutrition, and the discipline to care for your body before a health crisis forces the issue. Carl shares his personal story of discovering a congenital heart block at age 59, receiving a pacemaker, and using that experience to deepen his commitment to healthspan...

280 What Traditional Chinese Medicine Can Teach Us About Healthspan Extension and Aging Youthfully with Dr. Mao Shing Ni DACM, LAc, PhD

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

What if the path to healthy longevity lies not in choosing between ancient healing traditions and modern science, but in learning how to integrate both? In this episode, Dr. Gillian Lockitch speaks with Dr. Mao Shing Ni—38th-generation doctor of Chinese medicine, co-founder of Tao of Wellness, and author of Secrets of Longevity—about how Traditional Chinese Medicine can complement modern approaches to healthspan optimization. Dr. Mao explains the foundational principles of Chinese medicine, including balance, the five elemental systems, and the links between organ function,...

279 The Aging Immune System: Vaccines, Healthy Longevity and What We Can Learn from Covid with Michael T. Myers JR MD

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

How does our immune system change as we age, and what role can vaccines play in supporting healthy longevity? In this informative episode of Growing Older Living Younger, Dr. Gillian Lockitch welcomes physician, healthcare executive, and medical writer Dr. Michael Myers for a thoughtful, evidence-based discussion about immunosenescence—the age-related decline of immune function—and its implications for healthy aging. Together they explore how vaccines work, why vaccine recommendations evolve throughout life, and the importance of understanding both the science and the uncertainties...

278 The Muscle-Longevity Connection: Strength Training Supports Metabolism, Bones, and Healthy Longevity with Jeanne Phares

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

What role does muscle strength play in healthy aging, longevity, and independence? In this episode, Dr. Gillian Lockitch speaks with Jeanne Phares about why maintaining and building muscle becomes increasingly important for women during and after menopause. Drawing on her personal experience as a leukemia survivor and decades of strength training, Jeanne explains the connections between muscle mass, metabolism, bone health, resilience, and recovery. Listeners will learn practical strategies for strength training, nutrition, and lifestyle habits that support vitality...

FB 109 Anne Mullens: Fueling with Fat: Demystifying the Ketogenic Lifestyle

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

THIS FLASHBACK FRIDAY EPISODE OF GROWING OLDER LIVING YOUNGER focuses on the impact of low carbohydrate and ketogenic nutrition on health and aging well. Today’s Featured Expert is Anne Mullens, an award winning Canadian journalist and author specializing in Health and Science Writing, At a time when the twin hazards of diabetes and obesity are so prevalent in our society that we say that there is a diabesity epidemic, we are bombarded with discordant messages about what, when, and how to eat, to stay healthy and age gracefully. A goal of this podcast is to cut through the noise and provide...

277 Chronic Pain, Mobility and Healthy Aging: The Muscle-Longevity Connection with Stacey Roberts

Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,

Is chronic pain really an inevitable part of aging—or could it be a warning sign that deeper imbalances are affecting your healthspan, mobility, and quality of life? In this episode of Growing Older Living Younger, Dr. Gillian Lockitch speaks with physical therapist, registered nurse, educator, and functional wellness expert,Stacey Roberts, about the root causes of chronic pain and why conventional treatments often focus on symptom relief instead of true healing. Stacey explains how chronic inflammation, food sensitivities, hormone imbalance, gut health issues, biomechanics, and lifestyle...

More Episodes

Dr. Fletch reframes healthspan as more than the number of years lived without disease. It is the functional capacity to meet life’s demands, recover from disruption and continue doing the things that matter to you. Measures such as grip strength, gait speed, balance, cardiovascular recovery and the ability to get down to and rise from the floor may reveal changes in resilience that conventional blood tests can miss.

Drawing on more than 30 years of clinical, athletic-performance and rehabilitation experience, Dr. Fletch introduces his HealthSpan Framework. He describes the body as an orchestra rather than a machine: light, sleep, movement, nutrition, stress and recovery must work together, while circadian rhythm helps keep the entire system synchronized.

The conversation also examines fasting insulin, insulin resistance and continuous glucose monitoring; the limits of chasing individual biomarkers; and the growing enthusiasm for GLP-1 medications and peptides. Dr. Fletch explains why an intervention should be evaluated not only by whether it changes a number or symptom, but by whether it restores underlying biological capacity.

You will also hear how concussion rehabilitation has evolved, why appropriate graded rehabilitation matters, and how movement supplies essential sensory information to the brain. Dr. Fletch concludes with one deceptively simple practice: obtain outdoor light early in the day to help synchronize circadian biology and support the many systems involved in long-term health.

Episode Timeline:

00:00 — Why reassuring biomarkers may not reveal declining resilience

03:52 — How a college neck injury changed Dr. Fletch’s career

07:48 — Biological resilience, health literacy and upstream signals

13:33 — Why biomarkers are a map—not the terrain

20:13 — The HealthSpan Framework and functional self-assessment

26:56 — Peptides, GLP-1 medications and the difference between regulation and resolution

29:56 — Concussion recovery, brain metabolism and movement

34:08 — The first practical step: reset your circadian clock with outdoor light

38:39 — Closing reflections and key takeaways

Connect with Sean Fletch

Website: DrSeanFletch.com
Practice: BeyondSports.ca
LinkedIn: Dr. Sean Fletch
Book: HealthSpan: Redefined—Biological Principles for the Long Game of Health
Newsletter: The Long Game

Contact Your Host: Dr. Gillian Lockitch

Explore the Growing Older Living Younger approach to extending healthspan, protecting independence and aging youthfully.
Website: https://www.askdrgill.com/
Podcast page: https://www.askdrgill.com/podcast

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillianlockitch/ Subscribe to the Growing Older Living Younger Newsletter
Message Dr. Lockitch to schedule a one on one conversation about healthy longevity

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