- WASHINGTON -- A recent study
have identified the first direct link between stress and aging, a finding
that could explain why intense, long-term emotional strain can make people
get sick and grow old before their time.
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- Chronic stress appears to hasten the shrivelling of the
tips of the bundles of genes inside cells, which shortens their lifespan
and speeds the body's deterioration, according to a small but first-of-its-kind
study involving mothers caring for chronically ill children.
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- If the findings are confirmed, they could provide the
first explanation on a cellular level for the well-documented association
between psychological stress and increased risk of physical disease, as
well as the common perception that unrelenting emotional pressure accelerates
the aging process.
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- "There is this deeply-held belief that stress leads
to premature aging. But there is no hard evidence for how this might happen,"
said Elissa Epel, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco
(UCSF), who helped conduct the research.
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- "This is the first time that psychological stress
has been linked to a cellular indicator of aging in healthy people."
The findings could lead to new ways to detect the early physical effects
of stress and monitor whether attempts to alleviate its effects are working,
she said.
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- While cautioning that the findings needed to be confirmed
by additional research, other scientists said the results represent an
unprecedented step in deciphering the intricacies of the mind-body connection.
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- Copyrights © 2002 Sun Network. All rights reserved.
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- http://www.sunnetwork.org/news/science/science.asp?id=5760
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