LTB Podcast #442: Dr Dharmi Kapadia: Beyond Willpower: Racism, Stress and Health
Feb 11, 2026
Dr Dharmi Kapadia, senior lecturer and director at the Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity, studies racial and ethnic inequalities in health. The conversation explores how chronic racism-related stress shapes physiology. They cover why individual advice can fail, how gyms and healthcare can feel exclusionary, and practical steps to make fitness spaces more inclusive.
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Health Isn’t Just Personal Choice
- Health is shaped by social, environmental and systemic forces beyond individual choices.
- Dr Dharmi Kapadia argues the individualistic fitness model misses these larger determinants.
Discrimination Has A Dose–Response Effect
- Experiencing racism correlates with poorer physical and mental health outcomes.
- The worse and more frequent the discrimination, the larger the health decline over time.
Intersecting Factors Shape Health
- Socioeconomic status, geography, age and gender interact with racism to shape health.
- Researchers must consider the person and their environment, not just behaviour.