Sara Levens, PhD

Research Interests:

• Promoting Physical Activity Through Positive Emotion
• Healthy Aging and Midlife Health Promotion
• Women’s Health, Menopause, and Emotional Well-Being
• Emotion Processing and Emotion Regulation
• Digital Health and Scalable Behavior Change Interventions

My research investigates how emotions shape health, well-being, and behavior across the adult lifespan. I am an affective and cognitive neuroscientist with core training in emotion processing and executive control. I apply this mechanism-based training to understand behavioral change and develop interventions that incorporate affective components to promote healthful behavior. Throughout my career, I have been fascinated by the connection between emotional experience and physical well-being, as well as the remarkable capacity of positive emotions to influence resilience, motivation, and personal growth. My research is grounded in the idea that positive emotional experiences are not merely outcomes of healthy living, but powerful mechanisms that can be leveraged to promote and sustain healthy behaviors. Research in my lab integrates perspectives from affective science, health psychology, behavioral medicine, exercise science, neuroscience, digital health, and computer science to examine health behavior change and develop innovative interventions that enhance both health and quality of life.

For a more detailed description of ongoing research and information about the Levens Affective Behavioral Science lab, please visit https://levenslab.charlotte.edu/