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It’s normal to feel frustrated with getting older when you need to go through an intense recovery process after a workout just to feel like a functioning human the next day. But stressing about the impact of aging on your health can actually work against your goal of having a longer healthspan, according to new research.
The study, which was published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, found a shocking link between the way women view aging and the actual pace at which they age. Ultimately, researchers found that worrying about your health as you get older can impact you on a cellular level.
Sure, there’s a big difference between being a little annoyed that your 5k time isn’t what it used to be and actually stressing about your future health. But psychologists say the findings make a solid case for trying to do what you can to turn a negative mindset around, especially when it comes to your future health. Here’s why.
Fears about health can ultimately worsen your future health.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from 726 women who took part in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. As part of the research, the participants were asked how much they worried about common fears that tend to surface with aging, including how much they stressed about becoming less attractive with age, having more health issues, and being too old to have children.
The study also collected blood samples to track aging using two epigenetic clocks. One, called the DunedinPACE biological marker, looked at a person’s pace of biological aging while the other, called the GrimAge2, estimated biological damage that built up over time. After crunching the data, the researchers found that women who reported having higher levels of anxiety about getting older also had faster epigenetic aging. (In case you’re not familiar with it, epigenetic aging looks at a person’s biological age based on chemical changes to their DNA.)
When they dove a little deeper, the researchers found that fears about declining health in particular were the most strongly linked with a faster pace of epigenetic aging. However, worries around a decline in attractiveness and fertility weren’t strongly linked with epigenetic aging. The researchers ultimately concluded that “fears about declining health may manifest biologically and contribute to accelerated aging processes.”
What’s going on here?
It’s important to point this out: The study didn’t definitively prove that women who had more anxiety around aging actually aged faster. Instead, it found a link between fears around aging and signs of accelerated aging. “More research is needed to determine whether these concerns directly cause these changes,” Mariana Rodrigues, lead study author and a PhD student in the Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences at the NYU School of Global Public Health, tells SELF.
Still, psychologists say it’s not shocking to think that worries about your well-being may lead to worse health. Fears around health can spark a chain reaction that ultimately has an impact on your physical health, Thea Gallagher, PsyD, clinical associate professor at NYU Langone Health and cohost of the Mind in View podcast, tells SELF. “Worry and anxiety causes stress and strain on your body,” she says. “It takes up a lot of mental resources, which then take up physical resources.”
Stressing about your future health can impact your sleep, heart rate, and your nervous system, and all of those can contribute to worse health outcomes, Dr. Gallagher says.
It can also do a number on your heart health, Hillary Ammon, PsyD, a clinical psychologist at the Center for Anxiety and Women’s Emotional Wellness, tells SELF. “The body reacts to anxiety in similar ways to how it reacts to fear,” she says. “When we are experiencing these emotions, the body releases [stress hormones] cortisol and epinephrine, along with neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and glutamate. So if someone is constantly worrying about their physical health, it may put these hormones and neurotransmitters in overdrive.”
This can even cause your blood sugar to fluctuate and fuel chronic inflammation in your body, Dr. Ammon adds. Unfortunately, chronic inflammation is linked to a range of serious health conditions, including autoimmune diseases, heart disease, and cancer. “By chronically worrying about their health, individuals unfortunately create more health problems, leaving them more susceptible to additional health issues,” Dr. Ammon says.
One more thing to consider, per Dr. Ammon: When you have health anxiety, you tend to be hypersensitive to what’s happening with your body. “You may notice minor changes, which in turn, likely makes their anxiety worse,” she says. “It is a cyclical pattern.”
How to navigate health fears around aging
It’s normal and OK to worry sometimes about your health, Dr. Gallagher points out. But the big concern is when you regularly stress about it.
“People worry naturally, but often don’t pause to consider whether the worry is helping anything,” Jessica Bodie, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania, tells SELF. “By not giving the anxious thought as many follow-up behaviors—scanning, Googling—the brain registers the anxious thought as less valid.”
Worrying “keeps out of the present and in the future,” Dr. Gallagher points out. That’s why she recommends doing what you can to focus on what’s in front of you. Are you in generally good health now and doing all you can to stay healthy? Great—focus on that.
“We also have to be really careful that if your friend is diagnosed with cancer, that you feel like it’s happening everywhere and will happen to you,” Dr. Gallagher says. “Sometimes we’re just more attuned to the negative things happening with people’s health vs. thinking about how another friend who just ran a marathon is in great health.”
Dr. Gallagher stresses the importance of differentiating your own health status from those of people around you and trying to remind yourself of the things you can and can’t control. And, of course, try not to worry about the potential impact stressing about your health will have on your health—that’s not solving any issues, either.
Of course, if you’re struggling with health anxiety and it’s impacting your day-to-day, Dr. Ammon says it’s a good idea to talk to a mental health professional. They can help you navigate your concerns, as well as go over strategies to deal with those fears when they pop up.
But Dr. Gallagher also recommends trying to keep something very important in mind when it comes to worries about your future health. “You don’t want to live your life worrying about what could happen,” she says. “It’s either not going to happen or not, and worrying won’t change anything.”
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Originally Appeared on Self