To combat the effects negatives of stress, it is important to follow a healthy lifestyle, according to the results of a study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. Stress causes cells to age more quickly, but a balanced diet, daily exercise and a tobacco-free life counteract this phenomenon.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco followed healthy women for over a year to see if major stressors that occurred during the year predicted telomere shortening.
Telomeres prevent the DNA present in our chromosomes from being damaged. But with old age, these telomeres shorten, which is accompanied by aging of the cells which die more quickly.
The researchers also wanted to understand whether adopting healthy behaviors during this period mitigates these effects.
Stress causes cells to age rapidly
The 239 post-menopausal, non-smoking women provided blood samples at the start and end of the study for telomere measurement. The scientists also took into account all the events stressful that took place during the study.
The women who continued to have a healthy life during the study seemed to have been protected when exposed to stress. On the other hand, women who have not practicedsports activity, did not follow a balanced diet caused their cells to age rapidly. Indeed, the telomeres of their immune cells shortened more significantly for each major stressor that occurred during the study.
“The negative effects of stress can be counteracted by a healthy lifestyle,” says Dr. Eli Puterman, assistant professor of psychiatry at UCSF.
“The results of this research have implications for understanding changes in telomere length and for identifying predictors of these changes in length,” concludes the researcher.
