A Surprising Effect of Worrying About Aging

Growing older comes with many ironies. While each new day of being alive is something to be increasingly grateful for, it often comes with increasing discomforts that make life more difficult than before. While wisdom accumulates, certain cognitive skills are harder to maintain. And while,, in theory you grow to have known more people over time, day-to-day isolation and loneliness often grow as well, making your world smaller than it was before.

New research points to another tricky irony: Worrying about aging may actually accelerate aging.

The study, recently published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, examined more than 700 women, all living in the United States, between the ages of 25 and 74. Their anxiety over aging was assessed across three distinct areas: reproductive aging, declining attractiveness, and declining health.

The researchers, all at New York University School of Global Public Health, then assessed actual biological markers of aging in blood samples from the participants. They used two measures: GrimAge2 and DunedinPACE, which, combined, reveal accumulated biological damage, mortality risk, and the current pace of biological aging.

The sample was adjusted for demographic factors, chronic health conditions, and certain health behaviors.

The findings as a whole suggested the existence of a particularly vicious cycle when it comes to aging: Women who reported higher anxiety about growing older showed signs that it was happening at a faster biological pace. This was most true for those who had worries about declining health, and it was less significant for concerns about reproductive aging or appearance.

Could it truly be that worrying about the health affects of aging, in turn, make them happen faster?

The data certainly suggest the possibility. But it is crucial to remember that this is not a causal study—it only reveals a correlation, and only at one point in time. It might be that those who are aging faster biologically worry about it more because they are feeling it more deeply on some level. Or might there be some other variable that connects accelerated aging and worry—such as differences in sleep patterns or diet? Might the findings hold for men as well as women?

More research is most certainly needed, including how to help those who are suffering from age-related worries. As the saying goes, growing old can definitely be viewed as much better than the alternative—but it doesn’t mean that it’s not without its heartaches.

And now, more evidence than ever suggests that helping support people experiencing those heartaches may pay off even more strongly than previously thought.