Do you know the difference between biological age and chronological age? Have you wondered how the degree of aging of the body is determined? We all know that time is irreversible, the hands of the clock rotate constantly and we age at its rate. And although it is true that we cannot do anything about our chronological age, our biological age is different and much more flexible.
Now you might want to find out what the difference is between these two terms. Well, chronological age is that which has to do with the body and the functional state of the organs. It can be said that it is the time elapsed from birth to the current moment of the person’s life. On the other hand, biological age is related to the real condition of the organism, taking as reference the chronological age compared to the internal functional state. Consequently, biological age does not have to coincide with the person’s chronological age. Sometimes aging can be greater, but also less.
In biological age, genetics and lifestyle are taken into consideration. Within this, Severe stress plays an important role since, according to experts, it can increase biological age and thus accelerate the aging process of the person In today’s article, we will analyze how a feeling that we have all experienced at some point in our lives, such as stress, can significantly harm us in various areas, including aging. Plus, stick around to discover that, fortunately, the signs of aging due to this feeling are reversible once calm returns.
Stress refers to the mechanism that is set in motion when a person is faced with various situations that exceed their resources Therefore, the individual is overwhelmed by the moment and the number of demands placed on him. Consequently, the person experiences an overload that can influence both his physical and psychological well-being.
The causes that can cause stress are many since in order to adapt to demands, we activate the stress process to allow us to adapt appropriately to the situation. Furthermore, thanks to this process, reactions arise such as speeding up thinking, using more energetic behavior, increasing effectiveness to overcome certain situations successfully, among others. Therefore, stress can be beneficial to some extent. However, it begins to be harmful when the energy or resources spent are not recovered and therefore, significant wear and tear occurs on the body.
What is aging?
Nowadays, Most of the population has a life expectancy equal to or greater than 60 years It is portrayed that all countries are experiencing an increase in the number of older people in the population. Thanks to the incredible advances in science and the awareness that individuals are becoming aware of maintaining healthy habits throughout life, such as following a balanced diet, doing regular physical activity, abstaining from consuming tobacco and alcohol, this is what has managed to reduce the risk of diseases, improve physical and mental capacity and ultimately, delay dependence on care as much as possible.
Looking at it from a biological point of view, aging is the accumulation of a wide variety of molecular and cellular damages over time, which leads to a gradual decline in physical and mental capabilities and, consequently, to a greater risk of disease and Finally, to death.
Relationship between aging and stress
We all know the physical symptoms of stress such as diarrhea or constipation, headaches, lack of energy, stiff jaw, tiredness, etc. But, the interesting thing is that in recent years various studies have discovered that stress is capable of significantly accelerating aging.
It is known that certain stressful events, such as undergoing surgery, having COVID-19, or experiencing pregnancy, accelerate the rate of aging Likewise, the journal Cell Metabolism offers indications that this damage is reversed, in most cases, in a matter of days or months when the cause that caused it disappears.
In order to corroborate this approach, the authors Poganik and his team collected data from the stressful situations mentioned above. To do this, they examined blood samples from elderly patients who underwent emergency surgery, obtaining samples collected immediately before surgery and a few days after surgery. In turn, they also analyzed blood samples from people who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) due to COVID-19, and people who were at different stages of pregnancy.
The results were surprising since it was possible to observe how biological age increased in stressful situations and was reversed when the stressor was resolved It is easily understood when mentioning that the test results of those people who underwent major surgery showed signs that the biological age increased among them. However, they returned to baseline values 4 to 7 days after surgery.
Similarly, in the case of the effects of pregnancy on biological age, the researchers found a pattern where biological age increased during pregnancy until the moment of giving birth. Finally, among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the authors concluded that the increase in biological age also reversed by the time they were discharged from the ICU.
In conclusion…
At this point, it is clear that stress takes its toll on us and causes biological age to accelerate by leaps and bounds. However, it is not all bad news since the negative consequences of stress are completely reversible once the feeling stops. In this regard, some researchers wanted to study the role of resilience in stress and aging.
Psychological resilience, that is, a person’s ability to adapt to adversity, plays a very important role on the topic in question. The researchers found that participants who scored high in psychological resilience, or emotion regulation and self-control, were more resistant to the effects of stress on aging. Therefore, this suggests that an optimal way to minimize the adverse consequences of stress is by strengthening emotion regulation and self-control.
