By Lubna Abdel-Aziz So you think those unsightly lines and wrinkles, sallow, sagging skin, aching back, squeaking knees, and that ghastly floppy flab are all a sign of the years rushing by? Well, think again. Recent scientific research has firmly established that those hideous signs of ageing are not the result of accumulating years, but of accumulating stress. Stress can add up to 32 years to your calendar age, depending on your 'stressors'. Stressors are those conditions which cause stress, inducing unusual demands on mind and body. They can also breed one or more diseases, like ulcers, high blood pressure, insomnia, infertility, and heart failure. Better management of stress becomes our number one priority, since stress is the number one health problem of the world today. In America they even established an institute dedicated to it: the American Institute of Stress. Yet mankind has survived with stress since the dawn of history. Surely Adam and Eve must have been stressed when banished from the Garden of Eden. Why then is the medical community so pre-occupied with the oldest human condition? There is conclusive scientific proof that not only diseases are caused by stress, a fact we already knew, but that the appearance of ageing is a direct result of stress-related conditions. Our obsession with a youthful appearance makes this a major breakthrough. Stress results from any change in status -- simple acts, like the tick tock of a clock or the drip- drip of a faucet. Imagine the stress caused by getting married, having a baby, getting a promotion, going on a trip -- they all seem like pleasant events, yet all trigger stress. Negative changes like divorce, residential move, job change, are responsible for extreme stress. We are tempted to underrate overwork or lack of sleep, but our responses will be vastly diminished from those of one mentally fit. Illness causes stress because it forces the body to activate its defenses against disease. Exactly what damage does stress do to our bodies? Stress alters the function of most parts of the body, the brain, the muscles and the internal organs. These changes last from a few minutes to hours, weeks or months. Researchers have found a relationship between cellular stress and ageing, which explains why long-term stress makes people sicker and older. "This is the first time that psychological stress has been linked to a cellular indicator of acceleration of ageing in healthy people," said psychiatrist Dr Elissa Epel of the University of California at San Francisco. Dr Dennis Norach of Drexel University College Of Medicine agrees; stress leads to premature ageing. How often have we seen people grow older following a traumatic event? Watch the heads of state shrivel during their tenure. Janice and Roland Glazer, gerontology scientists at the University of Ohio, concluded that each stressful condition adds eight years to one's physical appearance. Caring for a sick child is the most stressful of all; add marital problems, financial woes and career difficulties, and you are an old man or woman before your time. The recent research examined structures inside our cells, called "telomeres", which are braided threads at the end of chromosomes, the strands that carry our genes. Each time one of our cells divides, the telomeres get shorter. As we get older, the telomeres get so short that cells can no longer divide, so they die. Telomeres can get rebuilt by the enzyme "telomerase". While it is unclear how stress affects telomeres and telomerase levels, the obvious hypotheses is that chronically elevated levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol, damage the telomerase, inhibiting the cell's ability to respond. The lower the levels of telomerase, the higher the levels of "oxidative stress," free radicals which damage DNA. The enzyme tries to keep up, but loses the race over a long chronic state of stress. As more and more cells die, our muscles weaken, our eyesight fades, our organs fail and our mental faculties deteriorate, and oh -- those hateful wrinkles pop up. Stress is unavoidable, because there is no life without it, but stress can be good, if under control. Increased stress boosts productivity; therefore our first duty is how to manage it properly. Life expectancy is increasing; (in Britain, at the rate of five hours a day). What admissible excuse is there not to heed the three essentials for a better, longer life: sleep, diet, and exercise. Calm the strife of mental conflict. Finish your unfinished tasks if you can, or forget worrying about them. Fats and sugars weigh you down, as well as up. Increase fiber intake, vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and lean protein. Get enough exercise; relaxation is the enemy of stress. Try yoga, meditation, or heavy breathing. In a stressful situation trick your body into relaxing by breathing heavily. "Breathe in slowly for a count of seven; then breathe out, for a count of 11." Repeat until you feel normal again. I tried it. It works. If fresh, youthful, healthy skin is desirable; avoid tobacco, alcohol, sun, cold, inactivity, sleeplessness and of course, stress. Our grandparents knew the value of building a strong social network. See at least six friends a month. Good company is healing. Share your joys and your sorrows. No deep sighs or repressed sobs; laugh and share your laughter. Laugh lines look better than frown lines. We grew up believing in 'mens sana in corpore sano' -- a sound mind in a sound body. It is now apparent that the truth is more a reversal of that philosophy: a healthy body is the product of a healthy mind, or rather a stress-free mind. Science has shown that they are inter-linked and intertwined much like the chicken and the egg. Do not worry about which comes first. Do not worry at all. At the very least, worry less, and those repelling, repugnant, repulsive wrinkles will soon disappear. Joy, Temperance and Repose, Slam the door on the doctor's nose -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
