Stress speeds up aging

Some highly-stressful events seem to turn a person's hair gray almost overnight.  New research shows that there is indeed a link between stress an aging:

severe emotional distress - like that caused by divorce, the loss of a job, or caring for an ill child or parent - may speed up the aging of the body's cells at the genetic level.

The findings, being reported today,  are the first to  link psychological stress so directly to biological age.

There are on-going investigations into how tension damages tissue.  This new research indicates that it may be occurring at the genetic level.  The good news is that it also gives some insights into how the damage might be reversed.

"When people are under stress, they look haggard, it's like they age before your eyes, and here's something going on at a molecular level" that reflects that impression, said Dr. Blackburn, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics.

Kind and attentive rearing helps protect against these genetic vulnerabilities; stress management not only aids in overall health, it appears to protect against tissue damage and biological aging at the gene-level, too.