Lowering Stress As You Age

What Causes Stress?

Stress, in and of itself, is not inherently good or bad. It can have many meanings, but it usually refers to a human reaction to a challenge. These physical and mental responses are your body’s way of adjusting to new situations.

Stress comes in several forms:

• Acute stress is only present for a short period.
• Episodic acute stress is a form of acute stress that occurs regularly.
• Chronic stress is stress over a long period. It can occur for weeks or months.
• Traumatic stress is a response to traumatic events. This may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder in some people.
• Environmental stress is caused by things like noise, pollution, and overcrowding.
• Psychological stress comes from mental or emotional factors or negative thoughts.
• Physiological stress can be caused by illness, injury, or sleep deprivation.

Stress can be caused by positive or negative challenges. The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) is a tool used to assess the average amount of stress that different life events may cause. This scale includes conditions such as death, divorce, pregnancy, marriage, personal illness, job loss, and other significant life changes. It assigns an approximate relative value to stressful situations and helps healthcare providers understand the likelihood of a person developing a stress-related illness. The higher the stress rating, the more likely a stress-related illness may develop. For example, an event like the death of a spouse or life partner is assigned a relative points value of 100, while an event such as the revision of personal habits is given a relative points value of 29.

What Are the Symptoms of Stress?

Stress has many symptoms and can have many effects on the body. Some of the common effects of stress include:

• Headache
• Muscle tension
• Chest pain
• Tiredness
• Stomach problems
• Sleep problems
• Difficulty focusing
• Feeling anxious, angry, restless, or overwhelmed
• Changes in appetite
• Outbursts
• Using drugs, alcohol, or tobacco
• Avoiding social interactions
• Changes in sex drive

Stress can also cause you to neglect your self-care – many people who are stressed get sick more often and exercise less, leading to them missing out on the many benefits of regular exercise.

How Stress Ages the Body

Stress can have many effects on the body, including premature aging. Chronic stress causes several physiological changes.

Stress can cause shortening of the telomeres in your DNA. Telomeres are caps on the end of your chromosomes. They are repetitive DNA sequences that get shorter each time your cells divide. When the telomere gets too short, the cell dies because it can no longer divide. Chronic stress causes damage to the telomeres, which can cause premature aging.

Chronic inflammation is another effect of chronic stress that can age your body. Inflammation is a contributing factor to multiple health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, and atherosclerosis.

Both chronic inflammation and the shortening of telomeres are believed to be related to oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is damage caused to cells by too many free radicals and insufficient antioxidants in your body.

How To Slow Your Biological Age

Researchers have pinpointed cardiovascular health as a main factor linked to aging. Controlling your cardiovascular health may help slow your biological age, so the American Heart Association has identified an eight-item checklist for optimizing cardiovascular health:

• Get enough sleep
• Stop (or don’t start) smoking
• Exercise regularly
• Eat a healthy diet
• Maintain a healthy body weight
• Maintain a healthy blood sugar
• Control your blood pressure
• Control your cholesterol

A 2023 study in Nature Aging showed that cutting calories by 12% for 2 years could reduce aging by 2–3% in adults who were lean or slightly overweight. Over time, this effect may cumulate into larger reductions.

Another way to slow the biological aging process is to protect your skin. Sunlight and pollution can cause significant stress to your skin over time. Managing your stress is another factor that can help prevent chronic stress, which can cause premature aging.

Does Stress Affect Older Adults More?

Stress is common in older adults. In 2021, more than 44% of adults aged 50–80 reported feeling stress in the previous two weeks, and around 28 of them reported feeling depressed or hopeless.

Older adults are more likely to experience age-specific stressors, including:

• Retirement
• Chronic health conditions
• Caregiving responsibilities
• Loss or grief
• Loneliness and social isolation
• Financial worries

Oxidative stress becomes more common with age, with several chronic diseases, as well as muscle loss and frailty, being associated with it. The role of oxidative stress in the aging process may be part of the reason that stress affects older adults more than younger ones.

Does Stress Management Become More Difficult As You Age?

Stress management is challenging at any age, but it may be harder to deal with stress as you get older. Your body may not recover as quickly, and your sleep may not be as good as it once was. This is just one of the many reasons it can be more difficult to recover. Heart and lung capacity also decreases with age, affecting your body’s ability to deal with physical stress.

How To Lower Your Stress as You Age

There are many ways to deal with stress and lower it as you age. Stress management is one of the things you can practice at any age to improve your health.

Locate The Source

Take some time to identify and remove the source of stress. If finances are causing stress, then there may be programs to help seniors with costs such as housing or electricity. If you need to learn new skills to lower your stress, such as how to use a computer, your local senior center or library may be an appropriate resource. While some stressors have solutions, many do not, so removing the sources of stress is not always possible.

Eat A Healthy Diet

A healthy diet can help improve your mental and physical health. It should be full of foods that lower inflammation and help the immune system, such as fruits and vegetables. These foods are part of an anti-inflammatory diet, which may help with stress and other conditions that are susceptible to inflammation. Staying hydrated is another key tip for controlling stress that may even boost your energy.

Get Good Sleep

Healthy sleep is another key ingredient to lowering stress as you age. The National Institute on Aging offers several suggestions for getting a good night’s sleep:

• Follow a regular sleep schedule
• Avoid naps
• Develop bedtime routines
• Avoid screens in your bedroom
• Control the bedroom temperature
• Lower the level of your lighting in the evenings
• Exercise regularly, but not within three hours of bedtime
• Avoid caffeine late in the day
• Avoid large meals late in the day
• Avoid alcohol

Sleep management is good for stress levels but may also help brain health.

Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness and meditation are another way to control your stress levels. Medication can help calm your thoughts, relax your body, and slow your breathing and heart rate. Regular physical activity may also have positive effects on your stress levels. Experts recommend about 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity weekly.

Get Professional Help

If your stress levels and coping strategies have reached the point where you are concerned about more serious mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression, consider reaching out to a professional. Your healthcare provider or mental health provider can help guide you through other ways to manage your stress levels and improve your overall health.

Take Control of Stress As You Age

Everyone experiences stress at some point in their lives, and aging is no different. By identifying and taking steps to manage the stressors in your life, you may be able to prevent premature aging and live a longer, healthier life.