Reduce Stress to Stay Young!
While researchers have long been piecing together all the ways chronic stress undermines our health, a new study from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) confirmed what we suspected all along: stress really does age you.
What happens, researchers learned, is that constant stress causes the telomeres—tiny caps on cells' chromosomes that govern cell regeneration—to get smaller. When a cell's telomeres get too short, the cell stops dividing and eventually dies.
Researchers discovered that the telomeres (pronounced teal-o-meers) of women with chronically ill children were much shorter than those of women the same age who weren't caregivers. Moreover, the greater the women perceived their stress levels, the shorter their telomeres—and the "older" their cells. "These telomeres are one of the few biological markers of aging we have," says Judy Moskowitz, Ph.D., a psychologist at UCSF who worked on the research.
But wait, you're probably saying: what happened to the women who didn't perceive their lives as stressful? Stress didn't age them nearly as much. "For them, stress is like water off a duck's back," says Thomas Perls, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at Boston University and the director of the New England Centenarian Project, a nationwide study of 1,500 people over the age of 100 and their children. "It isn't the amount of stress that matters, but how you manage it."
In fact, a number of the centenarians Perls has studied have endured plenty of stress. After all, they lived through the Great Depression and World Wars I and II, not to mention the usual array of divorces, deaths of loved ones, and even job losses. "Yet they don't seem to internalize it," Perls says. "They just let it go."
AARP decided to ask a few stress veterans—chosen from the 4 million lucky Americans who have sailed past their 85th birthday—for their secrets to staying young, both mentally and, as it turns out, physically as well.
- Stress-reducing secret: Playing bridge
- Games zap stress Ever since psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi pioneered the study of mental "flow" back in the 1970s, researchers have studied the best ways to achieve this elusive state, in which people are so fully focused on what they are doing that time seems to stand still. In fact, when Harvard University researchers followed people over the age of 65 for 13 years, those who enjoyed games found almost as much stress relief and prolonged life expectancy as did those who exercised regularly.
- Stress-reducing secret: Having a sense of humor
Humor zaps stress Studies have shown that people who can appreciate humor are less stressed and anxious. But those who have the ability to make jokes too have an added advantage. According to research from Western Illinois University, they tend to be more secure and confident in their interactions, less lonely, and more likely to see the stress in their lives as lower than that of people who aren't able to joke.
- Stress-reducing secret: Being optimistic
Optimism zaps stress Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have learned that optimism is a protective trait, but there's still a lot of work to be done in the burgeoning field of positive psychology. "While we know optimists live longer," says UCSF's Moskowitz, "it's not as simple as saying, 'Be happy.' People may be optimistic because they're healthy, not the other way around." Still, the numbers are impressive: Dutch investigators followed 1,000 people between the ages of 65 and 85 for nine years, and the optimists had a 55 percent lower risk of death.
- Stress-reducing secret: Having a sense of purpose
Work zaps stress In some ways, work and stress have gotten a bum rap—everyone has read studies linking type A workaholism with an increased risk for heart disease, depression, and other health problems. But researchers have found that work people are passionate about—so meaningful that it becomes a calling rather than a nine-to-five—helps reduce stress as well as the risk of depression, according to the Journal of Humanistic Psychology. What's more, work that is flexible, such as that done by Brown, can negate the stressful effects of long hours, according to research from the University of Arkansas.
- Stress-reducing secrets: Maintaining close friendships, talking through troubles
Close friendships zap stress Though loneliness has been linked to making all people more susceptible to stress, depression, loss of cognitive ability, and other ills, friendships seem especially protective for women. Shelley Taylor, a re-searcher at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), has found that most women deal with stress exactly as Marie and Lilly do—they rely on long chats with one another. While men are more likely to go into "fight or flight" mode, women are more likely to "tend and befriend." It works like this: though males and females produce the soothing hormone oxytocin under stress, estrogen tends to enhance the hormone, while testosterone inhibits it. When oxytocin levels are high, people are calmer, more social, and less anxious. These friendships not only help fight stress but may partially explain why women tend to outlive men.
- Stress-reducing secret: Finding meaning
Altruism zaps stress Adaptive social behaviors, such as concern for the environment, contribute to stress resiliency, according to research from the National Institute of Mental Health. The research focused on measuring hormones and neurochemicals among the U.S. Army Special Forces and U.S. Navy SEALs and found that people with "a set of core beliefs that are not easily shattered, who exhibit strong faith or spiritual beliefs," are more resilient. What's more, when people look for meaning in their lives, they seem to get a boost in immune function that may keep them healthier, according to research from UCLA.
- Stress-reducing secret: Playing the drums
Music zaps stress While learning anything new has been proven to beat stress; music has a special ability to calm people. Decades of research have shown that listening to music can lower blood pressure and heart rate. A new study at the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Pennsylvania also found that playing music can significantly reduce stress.
- Stress-reducing secret: Praying
Prayer zaps stress Despite decades of research, there is still a great deal of conflicting evidence about the health benefits of prayer. But researchers do know that among older people, spirituality—which covers not only faith and prayer but also the close-knit support of religious communities—significantly lowers stress and improves the chances of recovering from serious illness, according to the Journal of Health Psychology.
- Stress-reducing secret: Playing tennis
Exercise zaps stress While everyone knows exercise promotes a healthy heart, researchers are constantly learning more about how it minimizes stress. Multiple studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder have shown that physiological responses to stress from the brain, hormonal system, and immune system are all moderated by regular exercise. And while all exercise is healthy, moderately intense exercise, like tennis, significantly reduces anxiety too, according to research from the University of Missouri.
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