Research reveals that middle-aged men may age faster due to ‘eternal chemicals’
A new study finds that PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are associated with accelerated aging in middle-aged men.
People who make your life more difficult may be aging you faster, according to a recent study.
In the study, published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers found that people who have more troublesome things in their lives — people who “cause problems or make life more difficult” — have older biological ages compared to their actual chronological age.
“These results suggest that nuisance agents in a person’s social environment may constitute an overlooked but significant biological risk factor,” the authors write.
The study also took into account several other factors, including occupation, adverse childhood experiences, and smoking. But even so, the effects of negative social connections remain significant, the study notes.
How important is it? The authors write: “Each increase in nuisance activity is associated with approximately 1.5% faster biological aging and an increase in biological age of approximately 9 (months) among people of the same chronological age.”
But not all troublemakers were the same. Family and friend harassers showed “toxic associations,” but spouse harassers did not.
And biological aging wasn’t the only influence. Hustling was also associated with multiple negative outcomes for mental and physical health, including depression, anxiety, and higher BMI.
“These findings highlight the important role of negative social connections in biological aging as a chronic stressor and the need for interventions to reduce harmful social exposures to promote healthier aging trajectories,” the authors added.
However, the authors note that the study results are an association and do not prove “a causal effect of negative social connections on the aging process.”
Furthermore, there is no single definition of biological age, nor are there any conclusive studies proving that accelerated biological aging leads to premature death.
