By Hannah Seo, Photo: Getty Images, The New York Times, June 17, 2022
By now, most people know that stress can take a serious toll on mental and physical health. And when that stress is prolonged, studies suggest, it can increase the risk of certain health conditions like asthma, ulcers, heart attack and stroke.
Now, new research suggests that certain types of stress can even age your immune system.
Using an existing body of data, researchers looked at survey responses from a nationally representative sample of more than 5,700 adults in the United States aged 50 and over, and cross-referenced them with immune cell counts from participants’ blood. The survey asked respondents about their experiences with social stressors like job strain, chronic stress, stressful life events, everyday or lifetime discrimination (including sexism or ageism) and traumatic life events.
Comments (0)