Rabat – Aging is not determined purely by the passing of time but is significantly impacted by the amount of stress and relaxation we are subjected to, a new study has shown. Stress and recovery have a major impact on how our body ages, researchers found, while pregnancy, surgery, and COVID-19 can all advance our biological age.
The new study, titled “Biological age is increased by stress and restored upon recovery,” disproves that biological aging is simply a matter of time passing. Instead, we have a significant impact on how our body ages in how we experience and manage stress, the study shows.
“Recent in vitro studies have raised the possibility of age reversal,” the paper summarizes, highlighting that “biological age is fluid and exhibits rapid changes in both directions.”
While many people feel the increasing weight of a ticking clock as they get older, the study shows that we can have a real impact on how our body ages. “It is now clear that biological age is not indelibly linked to chronological age: individuals can be biologically older or younger than their chronological age implies,” the study concluded.
The new findings are the result of the study’s authors applying a new tool to determine biological age, using “DNA methylation clocks” that can accurately determine biological age like never before. By measuring aging in mice and humans, the researchers showed that aging can accelerate and reverse, based on the levels of stress a person experiences in life.
While experiencing stress is inescapable for most humans, the researchers show that the “damage done” to biological age due to stress could be reversed through proper recovery.
The study further shows that several factors can lead to faster aging, including going through major surgery, pregnancy and severe COVID-19. Due to the healing nature of proper recovery discovered in the study, the researchers are calling for further studies to see if stress management can provide a medical solution to aging in the future
