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There are many ideas that, when prolonged stress often causes us to age earlier and age faster. Is this really happening or just pointless worries? Is cellular aging affected by chronic stress?
1. The aging process
The aging process is a natural and continuous process, which is inevitable for a living organism. This process will increase over time. By the age of 35, our bodies will reach their peak in terms of physical and organ function, and then gradually decline. Changes in the structure and function of the internal organs will lead to a change in the external appearance. Depending on the body of each person, the aging process can come sooner or later.
Normally, the human aging process occurs at 5 levels: molecular, cellular, organizational, organ, system and whole body levels. The most common feature of this process is that different parts of the body age not at the same time and at different rates. There are parts that age first, parts that age later, and parts that age quickly, and some that age slowly. For a person with cataracts, but the brain and heart are still working perfectly. Furthermore, this person may age more slowly than a younger person.
2. Chronic stress leads to premature aging
Chronic stress takes a toll on the body, causing premature aging of immune system cells, new research shows.
Study leader Elissa S. Epel, professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) said: Exactly how chronic stress attacks the body to cause harm remains unclear. is well understood. Chronic stress is the focus of many studies, which have been linked to poor health, heart disease and lower immunity.
Epel's research appears in the latest journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In it, Epel and her colleagues examined a hallmark of biological aging - small fragments of DNA and proteins, called telomeres, that wrap around the ends of chromosomes. Each time a cell divides, part of this DNA is eroded. After many cell divisions, too much DNA is missing — and the telomeres are so short that the old cell stops dividing, she explains.
As cells age, they produce less and less telomerase, an enzyme that adds DNA to telomeres. Thus, both telomere length and telomerase levels can indicate the "age" of the cell. That's when the risk of disease increases.
Co-author Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, professor of biology and physiology at UCSF, said in a press release. "This is the first evidence that chronic stress - and the way a person perceives stress - can reduce telomerase and have a significant impact on telomere length ... inducing cellular aging."
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To take a closer look at whether chronic stress leads to telomere shortening, Epel and her colleagues focused on 58 healthy women, all of whom were mothers of a healthy child or children. "caring mother" of a child with a chronic illness.
The mothers completed a brief questionnaire about chronic stress in their lives in the past month. Then, a blood sample from each sample was analyzed to determine telomere length and telomerase activity.
As expected, surveys show that mothers with children have higher stress levels than mothers of healthy children. The total number of years caring for a sick child makes a big difference. More years of care translate to shorter telomeres and lower telomerase activity.
But there was another important finding in the study: A mother's telomere length was related to her stress levels, whether her baby had a chronic illness or not.
When converting telomere length into years of aging, the researchers determined that the cells of mothers with high stress aged between 9 and 17 years longer than those of mothers with low stress. Once you understand the harmful effects of stress on the body, you should adjust your diet and lifestyle accordingly to keep your body healthy and minimize the risk of disease.
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