The hazards of worrying about getting older

Health -    Worrying about getting older won’t make you any younger—in fact, a recent study suggests, it might do the opposite. Women who feel anxious about aging may actually age faster, biologically speaking, than those who are calmer, according to the study, which was published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.1

Study author Mariana Rodrigues, a PhD student at New York University’s School of Global Public Health, said she believes the study is the first to examine the biological effects of aging anxiety. “I am a firm believer that neither mental health nor physical health should be looked at in isolation,” Rodrigues said—and the research suggests they are indeed linked.

The researchers analyzed data from 726 U.S. women, ages 25 to 74, who took part in the Midlife in the United States study. As part of that study, the women answered questions about their health and lifestyles and graded their levels of anxiety about age-related changes to health, physical appearance, and ability to have children.

The women also provided blood samples, which allowed the researchers to assess markers of their physical health—including “chemical changes on DNA that accumulate over time and reflect how the body is aging biologically,” Rodrigues explained.