Rizelle Jugarap

The Reclaiming Nature, Hood to Woods Project to Protect Telomere Ends investigates walking in nature as a possible intervention for protecting telomeres against the negative effects of chronic stress in Black, Latinx, and Pilipinx Transitional Aged Youth. This project analyzes relative telomere length (a measure of biological aging due to chronic stress) in response to our nature-based intervention as well as sleep quality and weekly average steps. Understanding the potential of nature for healing may lead to the implementation of nature-based interventions as a tool for reducing health disparities and promoting well-being.

Chronic stress stemming from poor access to the social determinants of health is associated with accelerated biological aging and age-related diseases that predominate in medically underserved communities. Mitigating these health disparities is important and we aim to examine the efficacy of a nature-based intervention (NBI) to reduce embodied stress by analyzing relative telomere length (rTL)- a measure of biological aging- in Black, Latinx, and Pilipinx Transitional Aged Youth. We also aim to examine how the NBI may reduce embodied stress by analyzing sleep quality and weekly average steps. Together, rTL, sleep quality, and weekly steps will be analyzed using