Too much cortisol is clearly unhelpful, but as it varies a lot during the day you would need to find some way of measuring its average position. We are probably better using HbA1c as a measure of stress for that purpose although obviously other things affect HbA1c not only cortisol levels.
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•Chronic stress increases metastasis
•Chronic stress establishes pro-metastatic lung microenvironment
•Deleting the neutrophil-glucocorticoid receptor abolishes stress-induced metastasis
•Chronic stress induces metastasis-promoting neutrophil extracellular traps
Open access paper:
Chronic stress increases metastasis via neutrophil-mediated changes to the microenvironment
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610824000370
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Alzheimer’s risk associated with stressful life events during childhood and midlife, study finds
Alzheimer’s disease, a major cause of dementia, currently affects approximately 50 million people worldwide, a number expected to triple by 2050. A recent study published in the Annals of Neurology explores the relationship between stressful life events and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, focusing on how the timing and nature of these stressors might influence disease onset. The study finds that not all stressful events are equally impactful, with midlife or childhood stressors showing a stronger association with Alzheimer’s disease risk factors compared to stress accumulated over a lifetime.
Prior research has identified various psychological factors such as depression, anxiety, and chronic stress as potential risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. These factors can activate biological responses that may predispose individuals to the disease.
The new study aimed to expand on this understanding by specifically focusing on the role of stressful life events and their impact on Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers, brain inflammation, and brain structure. This was particularly relevant as previous studies have primarily concentrated on neuropsychiatric symptoms rather than the broader category of life stressors.
“Our study reinforces the idea that stress could play a significant role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease and provides initial evidence regarding the mechanisms behind this effect, but additional research is needed to replicate and validate our initial findings,” said Eider Arenaza-Urquijo, the senior author of the study.
Research Paper:
The study, “Lifetime Stressful Events Associated with Alzheimer’s Pathologies, Neuroinflammation and Brain Structure in a Risk Enriched Cohort,”
Related - Adverse Childhood Events / Stressful Events & Experiences, ACE Scores
Stressed parents, stressed kids? Trauma may ripple across generations
Strugar, in a recent reel, shared that a mother’s stress during pregnancy, for instance, can influence the developing brain of her baby. This impact stems from elevated levels of stress hormones, like glucocorticoids, which can alter the structure and function of certain brain regions such as the amygdala. “Stress can have a significant impact on the amygdala, which is a key part of the brain involved in processing emotions, particularly fear and stress responses,” he captioned the post.
https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/intergenerational-stress-waves-can-chronic-stress-affect-your-future-generations-9282492/
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Physical activity reduces stress-related brain activity to lower cardiovascular disease risk
Study’s findings help to explain how exercise benefits heart health
Peer-Reviewed Publication
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
Key Takeaways
- Results from a new study indicate that physical activity may help protect against cardiovascular disease in part by reducing stress-related brain activity
- This effect in the brain may help to explain why study participants with depression (a stress-related condition) experienced the greatest cardiovascular benefits from physical activity.
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This cat is obviously stressed due to the amount of grey hair. 
Your mental health is more important than the money you make. Take care of yourself first.
— Anonymous
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Childhood stress and its impact on lifelong aging:
Source: https://x.com/NicoleBushPhD/status/1790434743328096572
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AnUser
#28
Measure? I can feel it, I think the best way to know if you’re not stressed is if you’re relaxed. But I would guess it would be useful for measuring some invisible stress if someone is busy with stuff and can’t pay attention to it.
Even it wasn’t bad for aging or health or whatever, it sure doesn’t feel good. Mild stress might be good under short periods of the day, though.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
— Jane Austen
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So when you’re doing mental activities, play the following in the background. I do that at home on my big screen. It’s amazing how relaxing it is and yet not distracting.
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Don’t stress out your kids!
Feelings of stress at 10 years old predicts accelerated aging at midlife, independent of SES and race. Perceived stress in childhood is a novel & important Social Hallmark of Aging!
Source: x.com
July 29, 2024
Psychosocial Disadvantage During Childhood and Midlife HealthNIMHD Social Epigenomics Program
Key Points
Question Are childhood social hallmarks of aging (socioeconomic status and stress) associated with adult insulin resistance and epigenetic age?
Findings In the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study, a longitudinal cohort study tracking 433 girls from 10 to 40 years of age, lower parental educational level and higher childhood perceived stress were associated with greater midlife risk (higher insulin resistance and higher epigenetic age) similarly across Black and White women.
Meaning These results suggest that childhood structural and psychosocial factors are associated with aging-related health disparities.
Open Access Paper:
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address the long-term health impacts of trauma and stress. Work led from @StanfordMed by Anne Bozack, Sarah Merrill, and @cardenaasca
Epigenetic Biomarkers for Understanding Adverse Experiences and Health
Trauma and stress, particularly in early life, can have long-lasting implications on health and well-being throughout the life course. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, and challenges in the household or family before the age of 18 years, have been associated with adverse health-related behaviors, mental health conditions, and increased risk of illnesses, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. The effects of psychosocial stressors may extend across generations, affecting the children and grandchildren of individuals directly effected, through nongenetic intergenerational or transgenerational inheritance.1 There is a growing body of literature investigating how the cascade of physiological responses to adversity contributes to the biological embedding of ACEs. Epigenetic markers, including DNA methylation, may be involved in linking ACEs to health through programming of immune regulation, neurodevelopment, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in response to stress and trauma. The effects of ACEs may also be reflected in changes to aging-related pathways recapitulated by epigenetic clocks, or biomarkers of biological aging calculated using DNA methylation levels.
Epigenetic biomarkers are promising tools for understanding and mitigating the long-term health effects of trauma and other psychosocial exposures. The study by Dye et al2 contributes to the evidence that epigenetic pathways are involved in linking adverse experiences to health within and across generations. As the fields of both epigenetics and trauma research advance, future studies should focus on identifying relevant and specific biomarkers linking trauma to health, similar to second-generation epigenetic clocks that have been developed for aging-related phenotypes, which may be translated to clinical settings to improve trauma-informed care.
Read the full article (Open Access):
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Exploring the interplay of psychological and biological components of stress response and telomere length in the transition from middle age to late adulthood: A systematic review
Ageing and chronic stress have been linked to reduced telomere length (TL) in mixed-age groups. Whether stress response components are linked to TL during the midlife-to-late adulthood transition remains unclear. Our study aimed to synthesise evidence on the relationship between psychological and biological components of stress response on TL in middle-aged and older adults. We conducted a systematic review of studies obtained from six databases (PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Scopus) and evaluated by two independent reviewers. Original research measuring psychological and biological components of stress response and TL in human individuals were included. From an initial pool of 614 studies, 15 were included (n = 9446 participants). Synthesis of evidence showed that higher psychological components of the stress response (i.e., global perceived stress or within a specific life domain and cognitive appraisal to social-evaluative stressors) were linked to shorter TL, specifically in women or under major life stressors. For the biological stress response, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate and IGF-1/cortisol imbalance, IL-6, MCP-1, blood pressure, and heart rate presented a significant association with TL, but this relationship depended on major life stressors and the stress context (manipulated vs. non-manipulated conditions). This comprehensive review showed that psychological and biological components of the stress response are linked to shorter TL, but mainly in women or those under a major life stressor and stress-induced conditions. The interaction between stressor attributes and psychological and biological reactions in the transition from middle to late adulthood still needs to be fully understood, and examining it is a critical step to expanding our understanding of stress’s impact on ageing trajectories.
Full Open Access Paper:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smi.3389
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Studying the health effects of childhood experiences is part of a broader focus on “social determinants of health.”
- The idea is that factors like housing, education, food security and transportation have a direct bearing on health outcomes when much of the U.S. health system still focuses on managing medical conditions after they emerge.
- Paying more attention to life experiences that lead to poor health could keep many chronic conditions from emerging in the first place and put the U.S. more on a par with other wealthy countries.
https://www.axios.com/2024/09/23/childhood-trauma-health-biological-issues
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Paywalled Paper:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-024-00743-8
Life stress can shorten lifespan and increase risk for aging-related diseases, but the biology underlying this phenomenon remains unclear. Here we assessed the effect of chronic stress on cellular senescence—a hallmark of aging. Exposure to restraint stress, a psychological non-social stress model, increased p21 Cip1 exclusively in the brains of male, but not female mice, and in a p16 Ink4a-independent manner. Conversely, exposure to chronic subordination stress (only males were tested) increased key senescent cell markers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, adipose tissue and brain, in a p16 Ink4a-dependent manner. p16 Ink4a-positive cells in the brain of chronic subordination stress-exposed mice were primarily hippocampal and cortical neurons with evidence of DNA damage that could be reduced by p16 Ink4a cell clearance. Clearance of p16 Ink4a-positive cells was not sufficient to ameliorate the adverse effects of social stress on measured metrics of healthspan. Overall, our findings indicate that social stress induces an organ-specific and p16 Ink4a-dependent accumulation of senescent cells, illuminating a fundamental way by which the social environment can contribute to aging.
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Stress just sucks on so many levels.
The ITP just finished a stress test on mice.
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