Overview: Loneliness, restless sleep and unhappiness have a significant effect on biological aging, a new study reports.
Source: Deep Longevity LTD
Molecular damage accumulates and contributes to the development of aging-related frailty and serious diseases. In some people, these molecular processes are more intense than in others, a condition commonly referred to as accelerated aging.
Fortunately, the accelerated aging process can be detected before the disastrous consequences manifest themselves by using digital aging models (aging clocks). Such models can also be used to derive anti-aging therapies at the individual and population level.
According to the latest article published in Aging-USany anti-aging therapy should target one’s mental health as much as one’s physical health.
An international collaboration led by Deep Longevity with American and Chinese scientists measured the effects of loneliness, restless sleep or feeling unhappy about the pace of aging and found this to be significant.
The article features a new aging clock trained and verified with blood and biometric data from 11,914 Chinese adults. This is the first aging clock trained exclusively on a Chinese cohort of such a volume.
Acceleration of aging was detected in people with a history of stroke, liver and lung diseases, smokers and most interestingly, people in a fragile mental state. In fact, feeling hopeless, unhappy and lonely has been shown to increase biological age more than smoking does.
Other factors linked to the acceleration of the aging population include being single and living in a rural area (due to the low availability of medical services).
The authors of the article conclude that the psychological aspect of aging should not be neglected, neither in research nor in practical anti-aging applications.
According to Manuel Faria of Stanford University:
“Mental and psychosocial states are some of the most robust predictors of health outcomes — and quality of life — but they have been largely left out of modern health care.”
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Alex Zhavoronkov, the CEO of Insilico Medicine, points out that the study offers a way to “slow or even reverse psychological aging on a national scale.
Earlier this year, Deep Longevity released an AI-led mental health web service, FuturSelf.AI, which is based on a previous publication in Aging-US.
The service offers a free psychological assessment processed by an AI and provides a comprehensive report on a user’s psychological age and current and future mental well-being.
Deepankar Nayak, the CEO of Deep longevity confirms: “FuturSelf.AI, in combination with the study of older Chinese adults, positions Deep Longevity at the forefront of biogerontological research”.
About this research news about aging and loneliness
Author: Fedor Galkin
Source: Deep Longevity LTD
Contact: Fedor Galkin – Deep Lingevity LTD
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original research: The findings appear in Aging-US
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