Stress Accelerates Aging
Scientists have identified the mechanism between stress and aging, a finding that helps to explain why intense,
long-term emotional strain can make people grow old before their time. Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry
at the University of California in San Francisco found that chronic stress hastens the shriveling of the tips of
telomeres, the bundles of genes inside cells, which shortens their life span and speeds the body's deterioration.
The results of the study which involved 58 women, ages 20 to 50, all of whom were mothers of either a chronically
ill child or a healthy child, revealed that stress accelerated cellular aging. The most critical component of stress
in the care-giving process was the duration. The more years of care giving, the shorter the length of the telomeres,
the lower the telomerase activity, and the greater the oxidative stress. Telomerase is an enzyme that provides
stability to chromosomes in the body.
Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
discovered that stress from mood disorders like depression and anxiety are associated with accelerated aging.
The study looked at 44 individuals with chronic mood disorders and discovered that they all showed signs of
accelerated telomere shortening. The researchers noted that accelerated telomere shortening may reflect
stress-related oxidative damage to cells and accelerated aging, and that severe psychosocial stress is strongly
associated with telomere shortening.
Stress Slows Wound Healing
Scientists have known for some time that stress causes wounds to heal more slowly. Researchers in the Department
of Medical Microbiology at Ohio State University found the hormones produced from psychological stress inhibit
wound healing by slowing the body's natural healing processes. Stress hormones slow the delivery of cytokines
to the site of the injury, which slows the healing process. Cytokines are the chemicals produced by cells to heal
injuries and fight off infections.
Negative emotions contribute to delayed wound healing and prolonged infection. A study at the Department of
Psychiatry The Ohio State University discovered that negative emotions actually fuel sustained proinflammatory
cytokine production, which in turn slows wound healing. Accordingly, stress-related immune dysregulation is
the core mechanism behind a large and diverse set of health risks associated with negative emotions.
Marital stress has been shown to slow wound healing. In a study of 42 couples married at least 12 years,
researchers learned that the stress a typical married couple feels during an ordinary half-hour argument is
enough to slow their bodies' ability to heal from wounds by at least one day. If the couple's relationship
is routinely hostile or abusive, the delay in healing can be doubled. Blood samples taken from highly hostile
couples showed comprised immune systems. This indicates an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis,
arthritis, type-2 diabetes, cancers, Alzheimer's disease, and periodontal disease.
