Stressed women have lower levels of longevity hormone: Study

Stress has become a part and parcel of life, be it long working hours, changing lifestyle, everything just adds to our stress levels. Women especially suffer a lot due to stress. Managing work and home at the same time becomes hectic and this adds to the increased stress levels.

A new study has also proved that stress and depression can reduced your life span. According to the researchers, stress and depression in women are responsible for low levels of the longevity hormone in women.

Women who suffer with depression and chronic stress have significantly lower levels of klotho, known as a “longevity hormone” because it regulates aging and enhances cognition, researchers have found.

The study, by University of California-San Francisco researchers, found women with severe depressive symptoms had the lowest levels of klotho in their blood. The findings, published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, are the first link psychological influences and the longevity hormone.

“Our findings suggest that klotho, which we now know is very important to health, could be a link between chronic stress and premature disease and death,” said lead researcher Aric Prather, an assistant professor of psychiatry at UCSF.

“Since our study is observational, we cannot say that chronic stress directly caused lower klotho levels, but the new connection opens avenues of research that converge upon aging, mental health, and age-related diseases.”

Scientists know from their work in mice and worms that, when klotho is disrupted, it promotes symptoms of aging, such as hardening of the arteries and the loss of muscle and bone, and when klotho is made more abundant, the animals live longer.”

The UCSF study involved 90 high-stress caregivers and 88 individuals with low-stress lifestyles, most of whom were in their 30s and 40s.

The researchers said they will now attempt to determine if higher levels of klotho can benefit the mind and body health as we age.

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