Psychosocial stress as a factor influencing the rate of human aging
https://doi.org/10.37586/2949-4745-1-2025-7-14
Abstract
The article discusses the currently available data on the impact of psychosocial or psychoemotional stress (PES) as an important factor influencing the rate of human aging. It presents data on the mechanisms through which PES affects the speed of human aging. These mechanisms are driven by neuroendocrine responses, which are mediated by the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The article provides a detailed discussion of research findings focused on evaluating the complex relationship between PES and epigenetic aging. Neuroendocrine mediators are involved in the development of various physiological and pathological reactions that may play a significant role in biological aging. A key role in the alteration of aging rates under the influence of PES is played by corticosteroid hormones, which are released into the bloodstream in response to stress factors. The article also examines data on the so-called hormesis effect of PES, i.e. a protective effect of stress factors that, when acting for a short duration, lead to an increase in lifespan. Furthermore, PES does not always result in long-term negative health consequences if an individual has sufficient reserves, allowing them to effectively respond to and/or recover from the stressor.
About the Authors
S. R. Gilyarevsky
Russian Gerontology Research and Clinical Centre, Pirogov National Research Medical University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Gilyarevsky Sergey Rudjerovich.
Moscow.
K. A. Eruslanova
Russian Gerontology Research and Clinical Centre, Pirogov National Research Medical University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Moscow.
A. Yu. Shchedrina
Russian Gerontology Research and Clinical Centre, Pirogov National Research Medical University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Moscow.
References
1. Polsky L.R., Rentscher K.E., Carroll JE. Stress-induced biological aging: A review and guide for research priorities. Brain Behav Immun. 2022;104:97—109. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.05.016.
2. Cohen S., Kessler R.C., Gordon U.L. Strategies for measuring stress in studies of psychiatric and physical disorder. In: Cohen S, Kessler RC, Gordon UL, eds. Mea- suring Stress: A Guide for Health and Social Scientists. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 1995:3—26.
3. Cohen S., Janicki-Deverts D., Miller G.E. Psychological stress and disease. JAMA. 2007;298(14):1685—1687. doi: 10.1001/jama.298.14.1685.
4. Viertiö S., Kiviruusu O., Piirtola M., Kaprio J., Korhonen T., Marttunen M., Suvisaari J. Factors contributing to psychological distress in the working population, with a special reference to gender difference. BMC Public Health. 2021;21(1):611. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10560-y.
5. Epel E.S., Lithgow G.J. Stress biology and aging mechanisms: toward understanding the deep connection between adaptation to stress and longevity. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2014;69 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S10—16. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glu055.
6. Miller R.A. Cell stress and aging: new emphasis on multiplex resistance mechanisms. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2009;64(2):179—182. doi: 10.1093/gerona/gln072.
7. Morimoto R.I., Cuervo A.M. Proteostasis and the aging proteome in health and disease. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2014 Jun;69 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S33—38. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glu049.
8. Rea S.L., Wu D., Cypser J.R., Vaupel J.W., Johnson T.E. A stress-sensitive reporter predicts longevity in isogenic populations of Caenorhabditis elegans. Nat Genet. 2005;37(8):894—898. doi:10.1038/ng1608.
9. Pereira D.B., Sannes T., Dodd S.M., Jensen S.E., Morgan L.S., Chan E.K. Life stress, negative mood states, and antibodies to heat shock protein 70 in endometrial cancer. Brain Behav Immun. 2010 Feb;24(2):210—214. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2009.08.008.
10. Lewthwaite J., Owen N., Coates A., Henderson B., Steptoe A. Circulating human heat shock protein 60 in the plasma of British civil servants: relationship to physiological and psychosocial stress. Circulation. 2002;106(2):196—201. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.0000021121.26290.2c. PMID: 12105158.
11. Codagnone M.G., Kara N., Ratsika A., Levone B.R., van de Wouw M., Tan L.A., Cunningham J.I., Sanchez C., Cryan J.F., O'Leary O.F. Inhibition of FKBP51 induces stress resilience and alters hippocampal neurogenesis. Mol Psychiatry. 2022;27(12):4928—4938. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01755-9.
12. Friedrich Nietzsche, Götzen-Dämmerung, Das Problem des Sokrates, Kritische Studienausgabe, Bd. 6, Hrsg.: Giorgio Colli und Mazzino Montinari, dtv, München und New York 1980, S. 68.
13. Lithgow G.J., White T.M., Melov S., Johnson T.E. Thermotolerance and extended life-span conferred by single-gene mutations and induced by thermal stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1995;92(16):7540–7544. doi:10.1073/pnas.92.16.7540
14. Cohen S., Kamarck T., Mermelstein R. A global measure of perceived stress. J Health Soc Behav. 1983;24(4):385—396.
15. Andreou E., Alexopoulos E.C., Lionis C., Varvogli L., Gnardellis C., Chrousos G.P., Darviri C. Perceived Stress Scale: reliability and validity study in Greece. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2011;8(8):3287-98. doi: 10.3390/ijerph8083287.
16. Nwanaji-Enwerem J.C., Cardenas A., Gao X., Wang C., Vokonas P., Spiro A., Osborne A.D., Kosheleva A., Hou L., Baccarelli A.A., Schwartz J. Psychological Stress and Epigenetic Aging in Older Men: The VA Normative Aging Study. Transl Med Aging. 2023;7:66—74. doi: 10.1016/j.tma.2023.06.003.
17. Vetter V.M., Drewelies J., Sommerer Y., Kalies C.H., Regitz-Zagrosek V., Bertram L., Gerstorf D., Demuth I. Epigenetic aging and perceived psychological stress in old age. Transl Psychiatry 2022;12:410. 10.1038/s41398-022-02181-9.
18. Bergquist S.H., Wang D., Smith A.K., Roberts D.L., Moore M.A. Hormetic association between perceived stress and human epigenetic aging based on resilience capacity. Biogerontology. 2022;23(5):615—627. doi: 10.1007/s10522-022-09985-8.
19. Hughes A., Smart M., Gorrie-Stone T., Hannon E., Mill J., Bao Y., Burrage J, Schalkwyk L., Kumari M. Socioeconomic Position and DNA Methylation Age Acceleration Across the Life Course. American Journal of Epidemiology 2018;187:2346—2354. 10.1093/aje/kwy155.
20. Fiorito G., Polidoro S., Dugué P.A., Kivimaki M., Ponzi E., Matullo G., Guarrera S., Assumma M.B., Georgiadis P., Kyrtopoulos S.A., Krogh V., Palli D., Panico S., Sacerdote C., Tumino R., Chadeau-Hyam M., Stringhini S., Severi G., Hodge A.M., Giles G.G., Marioni R., Karlsson Linnér R., O'Halloran A.M., Kenny R.A., Layte R., Baglietto L., Robinson O., McCrory C., Milne R.L., Vineis P. Social adversity and epigenetic aging: a multi-cohort study on socioeconomic differences in peripheral blood DNA methylation. Sci Rep. 2017;7(1):16266. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-16391-5.
21. Tamman A.J.F., Montalvo-Ortiz J.L., Southwick S.M., Krystal J.H., Levy B.R., Pietrzak R.H. Accelerated DNA Methylation Aging in U.S. Military Veterans: Results From the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2019;27:528—532. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2019.01.001.
22. Houseman E.A., Accomando W.P., Koestler D.C., Christensen B.C., Marsit C.J., Nelson H.H., Wiencke J.K., Kelsey K.T. DNA methylation arrays as surrogate measures of cell mixture distribution. BMC Bioinformatics. 2012;13:86. doi: 10.1186/1471-2105-13-86.
23. Unternaehrer E., Luers P., Mill J., Dempster E., Meyer A.H., Staehli S., Lieb R., Hellhammer D.H., Meinlschmidt G. Dynamic changes in DNA methylation of stress-associated genes (OXTR, BDNF ) after acute psychosocial stress. Transl Psychiatry. 2012;2(8):e150. doi: 10.1038/tp.2012.77.
24. Zannas A.S., Chrousos G.P. Epigenetic programming by stress and glucocorticoids along the human lifespan. Mol Psychiatry. 2017;22(5):640—646. doi: 10.1038/mp.2017.35.
25. Chrousos G.P., Gold P.W.. The concepts of stress and stress system disorders. Overview of physical and behavioral homeostasis. JAMA. 1992;267(9):1244—1252. Erratum in: JAMA 1992;268(2):200.
26. Thomassin H., Flavin M., Espinás M.L., Grange T. Glucocorticoid-induced DNA demethylation and gene memory during development. EMBO J. 2001;20(8):1974—1983. doi: 10.1093/emboj/20.8.1974.
27. Provençal N., Arloth J., Cattaneo A., Anacker C., Cattane N., Wiechmann T., Röh S., Ködel M., Klengel T., Czamara D., Müller N.S., Lahti J.; PREDO team; Räikkönen K., Pariante C.M., Binder E.B. Glucocorticoid exposure during hippocampal neurogenesis primes future stress response by inducing changes in DNA methylation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020;117(38):23280—23285. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1820842116.
28. Zannas A.S., Arloth J., Carrillo-Roa T., Iurato S., Röh S,. Ressler K.J., Nemeroff C.B., Smith A.K., Bradley B., Heim C., Menke A., Lange J.F., Brückl T., Ising M., Wray N.R., Erhardt A., Binder E.B., Mehta D. Lifetime stress accelerates epigenetic aging in an urban, African American cohort: relevance of glucocorticoid signaling. Genome Biol. 2015;16:266. doi: 10.1186/s13059-015-0828-5.
29. Davis E.G., Humphreys K.L., McEwen L.M., Sacchet M.D., Camacho M.C., MacIsaac J.L., Lin D.T.S., Kobor M.S., Gotlib I.H. Accelerated DNA methylation age in adolescent girls: associations with elevated diurnal cortisol and reduced hippocampal volume. Transl Psychiatry. 2017;7(8):e1223. doi: 10.1038/tp.2017.188.
30. Zannas A.S., Jia M., Hafner K., Baumert J., Wiechmann T., Pape J.C., Arloth J., Ködel M., Martinelli S., Roitman M., Röh S., Haehle A., Emeny R.T., Iurato S., Carrillo-Roa T., Lahti J., Räikkönen K., Eriksson J.G., Drake A.J., Waldenberger M., Wahl S., Kunze S., Lucae S., Bradley B., Gieger C., Hausch F., Smith A.K., Ressler K.J., Müller-Myhsok B., Ladwig K.H., Rein T., Gassen N.C., Binder E.B. Epigenetic upregulation of FKBP5 by aging and stress contributes to NF-κB-driven inflammation and cardiovascular risk. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116(23):11370—11379. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1816847116.
31. Zannas A.S. Epigenetics as a key link between psychosocial stress and aging: concepts, evidence, mechanisms. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2019;21(4):389—396. doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2019.21.4/azannas.
32. Ravlić S., Škrobot Vidaček N., Nanić L., Laganović M., Slade N., Jelaković B., Rubelj I. Mechanisms of fetal epigenetics that determine telomere dynamics and health span in adulthood. Mech Ageing Dev. 2018;174:55—62. doi: 10.1016/j.mad.2017.08.014.
33. Lu A.T., Xue L., Salfati E.L., Chen B.H., Ferrucci L., Levy D., Joehanes R., Murabito J.M., Kiel D.P., Tsai P.C., Yet I., Bell J.T., Mangino M., Tanaka T., McRae A.F., Marioni R.E., Visscher P.M., Wray N.R., Deary I.J., Levine M.E., Quach A., Assimes T., Tsao P.S., Absher D., Stewart J.D., Li Y., Reiner A.P., Hou L., Baccarelli A.A., Whitsel E.A., Aviv A., Cardona A., Day F.R., Wareham N.J., Perry J.R.B., Ong K.K., Raj K., Lunetta K.L., Horvath S. GWAS of epigenetic aging rates in blood reveals a critical role for TERT. Nat Commun. 2018;9(1):387. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02697-5.
34. Epel E.S., Blackburn E.H., Lin J., Dhabhar F.S., Adler N.E., Morrow J.D., Cawthon R.M. Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Dec 7;101(49):17312—17315. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0407162101.
35. Irvin M.R., Aslibekyan S., Do A., Zhi D., Hidalgo B., Claas S.A., Srinivasasainagendra V., Horvath S., Tiwari H.K., Absher D.M., Arnett D.K. Metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers are associated with epigenetic aging acceleration estimates in the GOLDN study. Clin Epigenetics. 2018;10:56. doi: 10.1186/s13148-018-0481-4.
36. Miller M.W., Sadeh N. Traumatic stress, oxidative stress and post-traumatic stress disorder: neurodegeneration and the accelerated-aging hypothesis. Mol Psychiatry. 2014;19(11):1156—1162. doi: 10.1038/mp.2014.111.
37. Jones K.A., Thomsen C. The role of the innate immune system in psychiatric disorders. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2013;53:52—62. doi: 10.1016/j.mcn.2012.10.002.
Review
For citations:
Gilyarevsky S.R., Eruslanova K.A., Shchedrina A.Yu. Psychosocial stress as a factor influencing the rate of human aging. Problems of Geroscience. 2025;(1):7-14. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.37586/2949-4745-1-2025-7-14
Views:
238
JATS XML
Email this article .jpg)
