Improving Healthcare Through Choice

In this interview, Sally Duplantier shares the ways that healthcare is changing, including the shift from a treatment model to a prevention model; incorporating wearable technology to provide people with real-time data about their health, increasing patient access to healthcare providers through telehealth, and the use of technology to help people have a more active role in their healthcare.

This video also features Sally’s decision to complete a Certificate in Nutrition Science through Stanford University, to increase her knowledge and expertise when Sally founded her company, Zing, in 2019.

Better Brain Health Starts Now

In this Better Than Fine podcast with wellness coach Darlene Marshall, Sally Duplantier explores how making lifestyle changes in your 30s, 40s, and 50s sets you up for a better brain health trajectory. Darlene and Sally discuss the relationship between lifestyle choices, such as diet, movement, social engagement, stress and sleep, in mitigating or promoting cognitive decline.

“Better brain health starts now,” says Sally, who cites scientific research about steps we can take in mid-life and even later life to reduce the risk of cognitive decline as we age. “Brain health is a little like a 401K plan. The earlier you invest, the better but you can take steps at any age.”

Sally is the co-author of a paper about the link between dietary patterns and cognitive decline, published in the peer reviewed journal Nutrients in 2021 with co-author Dr. Christopher Gardner from Stanford. Since then, Sally’s research has explored various lifestyle factors, including exercise, sleep, stress management, supplements, and cognitive activities like “brain games.” Throughout her research, Sally has aimed to distinguish between marketing hype and misinformation regarding brain health in order to discern scientific facts, which she shares in this podcast.

Sally is also a featured speaker on the topic of brain health for Stanford’s Healthy Living Program and the Stanford VA Alzheimer’s Research Center.

Three Ways Giving Makes You Healthier

Sally Duplantier, a philanthropist, gerontologist, and expert in healthy aging, shared the science of why giving makes us and our communities healthier at a special event hosted by the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Bay Area. Sally is the founder of Zing, a wellness education and coaching company that helps build healthier nutrition, movement, sleep, and stress habits. “When you give to someone, when you are kind to someone, when you do something out of the goodness of your heart to help people, it feels good,” Sally added.

Beyond simply feeling good, however, Sally shared scientific evidence about how giving provides positive health benefits. Sally’s perspective on giving is holistic and grounded in her work to inspire people to live a healthy, meaningful life.

First, giving makes us happier from a physiological perspective. “Giving increases hormone levels of serotonin and oxytocin, which are our feel-good hormones. It also increases levels of dopamine, which is tied to the reward center.” In addition, increases in these hormones improve our self-esteem. The increase in serotonin and oxytocin is the physiological reason why giving feels good. When we donate to RMHC Bay Area to support sick children, it improves our health, too, through these increased feel-good hormones and self-esteem.

Second, true giving from the heart decreases stress by reducing cortisol levels in the bloodstream. Stress has numerous adverse effects on the body, including muscle tension, chronic headaches, hypertension, increased cholesterol levels, and more. Thoughtful, heartfelt giving can reduce your chances of experiencing the adverse physical effects of stress on the body.

Third, giving has a “multiplier” health effect. While giving produces health benefits at the individual level, Sally explains that it’s more impactful than that. Sally explains, “Through giving, we help the staff give to the families accessing Ronald McDonald House services. We help parents give to their children. So, it’s this multiplier health effect, which I think is quite powerful.” Thus, the impact of a single gift reaches far beyond the individual. It can help hundreds of families seeking services through Ronald McDonald House Charities Bay Area, which makes for a healthier community.

Lifestyle Choices to Live Your Best Life Longer

Sally Duplantier, a gerontologist, and expert in healthy aging, joins co-hosts Gail Zelitzky and Catherine Marienau for the 199th episode of their Women Over 70: Aging Reimagined podcast. Sally, a gerontologist and expert in healthy aging, found her passion for health and wellness in her late 30s. As a lifelong learner, she has earned certification in nutrition science and a master’s degree in gerontology—45 years ager earning her bachelor’s degree. Sally quips, “I was the only kid in my graduating class on Medicare.” Currently, Sally is conducting post-graduate qualitative research related to the health and well-being of family caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. In 2019, Sally founded Zing to enable others to take charge of their health from a holistic perspective. (This was after selling her first company and retiring twice.) Sally’s mantra is “show me the evidence” to help ensure that science supports the myriad of health claims made by various people and organizations.

In this interview, Sally discusses the four elements of healthy living that contribute to Healthspan—the number of years we are free of chronic disease and disability. While genetics play a role in our health, research shows that lifestyle choices related to nutrition, movement, sleep, and stress, contribute to 80% of chronic disease and over 90% of US healthcare costs. 

To educate older adults on the ways in which lifestyle impacts health, Sally offers free bi-monthly Wellness Wednesday webinars. These webinars feature cutting-edge researchers, medical professionals, authors, and thought leaders on topics related to healthy aging. A key feature of the Wellness Wednesday program is its emphasis on scientific research vs. the blog-of-the-day tip. 

In her interview, Sally added a fifth lifestyle that contributes greatly to healthy aging—our mindset. Sally says that “mindset matters” when it comes to how we view ourselves as older adults. Research by Dr. Becca Levy from Yale University and others demonstrate that negative self-perception of aging can trim 7.5 years off our lives. 

As important as lifestyle choices are for healthy aging, Sally acknowledges that many people cannot make healthier choices because they live in communities without access to nutritious food, and in polluted, stressful, and unsafe environments. Thus, Sally spends time with non-profits focused on improving health outcomes for underserved and under-represented populations. Sally is currently leading an initiative for the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Bay Area to address the growing concern about food security for families with critically ill children.

As a final tip, Sally reminds us that we are #nevertooold to learn, grow, and make a difference. At age 70, Sally exemplifies this advice.

Adding Years to Your Life

When we think about longevity, we are often thinking about adding years to our life. But what about adding life and vitality to those years? In this interview, gerontologist Sally Duplantier shares evidence-based advice on “how to live your best life longer.”

In this interview you’ll learn:

• The difference between longevity and healthspan

• Why cognitive health is so important as we age

• The role of nutrition, movement, and sleep throughout our lives to increase healthspan

• How some of aging is “just in our heads” - we contribute to ageism through our own self-limiting beliefs

Sally is the founder of Zing, and her mission is to help older adults live their best life longer by taking charge of their health. To support this mission of healthy aging, Zing provides education and coaching on the key lifestyle choices that reduce the risk of chronic disease: nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, and social engagement. 

In addition to her work at Zing, Sally partners with non-profits to improve health outcomes for underserved and under-represented populations. Sally is currently leading an initiative for the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Bay Area to address the growing concern about food security for caregivers of critically ill children. 

Sally believes that age does not define us—we define how we age. After earning a graduate degree 45 years after her bachelor’s degree, Sally knows that we are #nevertooold to learn, grow, and make a difference.