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Phobias lead to premature aging
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Women with phobias appear older than their age according to molecular indicators. Researchers blame psychological stress for this premature aging, which can shorten telomeres and thus age cells.
There are a ton of different phobias, and anyone can name a couple of the most famous ones, like claustrophobia or arachnophobia. There is probably no such thing or situation that is not associated with some kind of panicky irrational fear. Phobias are common: according to statistics, for example, 8% of Americans suffer from at least one phobia.
Psychological stress associated with phobias, like any stress, must obviously have some effect on health. To check this, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard University (USA) took blood samples from more than five thousand women aged 42 to 69. The blood analysis was compared with psychological testing data. It turned out that women with phobias were older than their age according to molecular markers - by about six years.
In an article published in PLoS ONE, the researchers claim that telomeres may be the link between phobias and accelerated aging. The authors of the work paid special attention to them. These terminal fragments of chromosomes protect genetic information from damage during cell division. Telomeres shorten with age, and the risk of damage to important genes increases. Telomere shortening can be accelerated by oxidative stress and inflammation. In turn, short telomere regions increase the risk of heart, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases, especially at a certain age.
Psychological stress, according to scientists, can lead to inflammatory and oxidative damage to telomeres. However, as the authors of the study emphasize, there is no direct evidence of a connection between stress and telomere length. So this is only one possible explanation of how stress can shorten life, although the most plausible one.
Women of middle and post-Balzac age are most susceptible to phobias: it is then that concerns about their fading youth become more acute. Well, perhaps a visit to a psychotherapist and taking antiphobic sedatives will help them preserve, if not youthful beauty, then at least youthful health.
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