How Fast Is Stress Aging You?

Have you had your telomeres studied lately? One of the most profound advancements in identifying on how healthy and how fast people may age, the condition of one’s telomeres are showing a direct link to how one manages stress.

In 2004, scientists started to study telomeres, which are the tips of strands of DNA designed to protect the chromosomes in our cells.   As our cells divide over time, because of ­damage, the telomeres get shorter and so become an accurate marker of ­biological ageing. 

Picture these telomeres to be like the tips on the end of a shoelace. Telomeres stop DNA from fraying. When it frays, the cell stops being healthy: if it is a skin cell, it will cease to function properly and will appear aged. If the DNA frays in a brain cell, memory will lapse. 

With the identification of these telomeres there has been increasing research on what keeps them healthy, and what leads to their damage.

Recent research implicates mis-managed stress to be a major factor in leading to their destruction, leading to ‘premature aging’.

And it’s important to highlight that it is mis-managed stress, because the fact of the matter remains that the body does need stress to strengthen and grow, although it needs it followed by periods of rest and repair.

A perfect example of how stress can age someone is to look at what might be perceived as a stress full job, president of the United States.  Just look at any photo of any president from before they took office to a year or two into their job.

Look at president Obama, profoundly grayer and it only took a few months.

The good news is, when stress is managed, or extreme stress is eliminated, the body can ‘de-age’ itself a bit.  Take a look at President George W Bush and President Clinton.  Each of them looks much younger now than when they left office if you look at the health of their skin and how they present themselves.

And sure, you might say this evidence is anecdotal, although take a look at what research has shown us.

Scientists studied ­parents who were looking after very ill children which can be a very stressful situation from the caring of the child to the economical challenge it can provide.

They found that those who felt under the most stress had telomeres that were ten years shorter than should have been. The more stubby and shorter the telomeres, the less protected our DNA.

Here is the remarkable thing about the human body.  Telomeres can be stimulated to grow again, actually reversing the effects of ageing.  The telomeres of women who had been caring for a husband with dementia were measured, and then measured again when the husband went into a home. Almost immediately, the ­telomeres were rejuvenated.

So how is your stress being managed?  What shape are your telomeres in?

Schedule a wellness consult with us for customized tips and techniques on how to measure and manage how your body responds to stress, and even find out how to measure your telomeres.