A shocking study has revealed that feelings of loneliness and unhappiness harm health more than smoking. Researchers found that emotions accelerate people's biological clocks more than cigarettes, as reported by the British newspaper "Daily Mail." The study's results showed that feelings of loneliness, unhappiness, and despair add up to one year and eight months to a person's age, which is five months more than smoking.
The research also demonstrated that damage to the body's biological clock increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, heart disease, and other illnesses. Researchers believe that chronic inflammation caused by feelings of unhappiness leads to damage to cells and vital organs.
Every individual has a chronological age, or the years and months they have lived. However, each of us also has a biological age, which is estimated based on factors including blood, kidney health, and Body Mass Index (BMI).
Researchers from Stanford University in California and Deep Longevity, a company in Hong Kong, relied on data from 12,000 Chinese adults of middle and older age. Approximately one-third of them had a pre-existing condition, including lung diseases, cancer, and stroke recovery. Using blood samples, surveys, and medical data, experts created a model of aging to predict the biological age of the participants. They then matched participants by age and gender and compared their results with those showing accelerated aging.
The results indicated that feelings of loneliness or unhappiness were the strongest indicator of faster biological deterioration, followed by smoking, which added one year and three months to a person's age. They also found that being male added up to five months to a person's age.
Other factors associated with accelerated aging included living in a rural area, which increased an individual's biological age by four months, possibly due to malnutrition or limited access to medical services. Additionally, singlehood, which has long been associated with early mortality, added about four months to a person's age.
The study only looked at adults in middle age and older, meaning it is unclear whether the results apply to younger age groups. The researchers did not ask participants how many cigarettes they smoked daily. Previous research from the National Institute on Aging (NIH) also linked feelings of loneliness and isolation to aging, equating it to smoking about 15 cigarettes a day. This research also found that being alone for most of the day leads to a decline in the ability to perform daily tasks like climbing stairs or walking.
