Over time, our bodies change - it's a natural part of life. We age, and our cells stop working as they used to, which leads to various diseases. However, the speed of this process can vary, and nowadays we often see signs of premature aging.
Its symptoms include a decrease in mental and physical performance, fatigue, memory impairment, weakening of emotions and sexual function, a decrease in the adaptive capacity of the cardiovascular, nervous and other body systems, and early onset of age-related prerequisites for the development of diseases.
What determines the rate of aging? Why do some people age faster and are more susceptible to age-related diseases, while others retain their good looks, minds, and health until old age? The answer to this question is no great mystery. Remember the famous saying: "He grew old with grief". To be more precise, it should read "He grew old from stress."
During the 20th century, much scientific evidence of this popular observation was accumulated. For example, as early as 1928, Professor G. B. Bykhovsky of Kyiv cited evidence that during the First World War and the Revolution, many young people developed premature gray hair and atherosclerosis under the influence of emotional distress and "nervous mental trauma." The same mechanism works in animals: in the forties, the laboratory of the famous physiologist I.P. Pavlov discovered that dogs in a state of chronic stress ("experimental neurosis," as it was called then) gradually acquired an old appearance, looked older than their age, had gray hair and dystrophic skin. Their teeth fell out and the lenses of their eyes became cloudy, they lost their muscle tone and sexual arousal, and they often suffered from tumor disease. At the same time, dogs that were protected from irritation looked significantly younger than their age.
Today, leading gerontologists (experts in the field of aging) say that "One of the main factors determining life expectancy and the type of human aging is undoubtedly the social factor, which characterizes the entire complex range of environmental influences on the human body." And among the social factors, stresses that have a detrimental effect on the entire body occupy a prominent place.
Overexertion of the nervous system, stressful situations that are often repeated, cause dysregulation, functional and then structural changes in various physiological systems of the body, significantly contribute to the development of pathological abnormalities and thus lead to premature aging. Clinical data show that constant psycho-emotional stress (chronic stress) is one of the main risk factors for the development of age-related problems such as coronary heart disease, hypertension and dementia, meaning that the accelerated aging process primarily affects the cardiovascular and nervous systems. This is especially evident in people engaged in strenuous mental work.
Hans Selye, the founder of the stress theory, wrote that "Aging is the result of all the stresses to which the body has been exposed throughout life. ... Any stress, especially that caused by fruitless efforts leading to frustration, leaves behind irreversible chemical scars; their accumulation causes the signs of aging in tissues."
Gerontologists I. M. and G. I. Todorov point out that the same stressor usually causes a more intense stress response in old people or animals than in young ones: "This is obviously how this vicious circle develops: stress accelerates aging, and aging increases the body's response to stressors." The Research Institute of Gerontology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine has found that aging often results in a complex of hormonal, metabolic, tissue and cellular changes, called "stress-age syndrome" by academician V. V. Frolkis.
The prominent Soviet gerontologist V. M. Dilman also discovered that in old age, the body's adaptive systems create an excessive response to stress: "This is how adversity and sadness reduce the days of life. As a person ages, he or she begins to live in a state of chronic stress, and therefore becomes more and more defenseless when real stress makes its demands on the body. Time is a universal stressor."
Scientists from the University of Iowa (USA) have found that age-related changes in the brain are activated under the influence of stress, meaning that the brain ages faster than it could. This is due to a decrease in the number of neural connections in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for emotions, thinking, and control over actions, which is one of the causes of memory and thinking impairment in old age. Similarly, chronic stress accelerates the aging of the immune system, so after the age of 55, acute stressful events are accompanied by an insufficiently active immune response. This is one of the reasons why the risk of cancer increases with aging, and three-quarters of all cancer cases are diagnosed after the age of 55.
That is why the consequences of life's adversities, expressed in mental health disorders, such as neuroses, depression, anxiety, etc., are factors that accelerate aging. This is especially true for age-related depression which further accelerates the aging process. "The relationship between aging and depression is that the aging process contributes to the development of depression, and vice versa, depression seems to accelerate aging," write I. N. and G. I. Todorov.
Data from a large study in the Netherlands showed that in patients with clinically manifested anxiety disorders, telomeres, the end regions of chromosomes known to be markers of biological aging, are significantly shorter than in non-psychiatric patients. And scientists at Boston University in the United States found that the strongest signs of aging were demonstrated by those veterans who suffered more from post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) that arose from participation in hostilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has long been known that people with severe mental disorders die on average at an earlier age, and they are at increased risk of developing somatic diseases that usually appear in old age, such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, immune disorders, and dementia.
What characterizes long-livers? Along with genes, their life expectancy is influenced by factors of genetic-environmental interaction, in other words, by personal factors. Among them, researchers note: mental health, optimism, sense of humor, stress resistance, hard work, general activity, altruism and helping other people, intelligence and creativity, optimal organization of life time, and self-improvement. Therefore, slow biological aging is characterized by the least severity of age-related changes, and contributes to increased life expectancy and longevity.
Today, a new cause of accelerated aging has emerged complications of Covid-19. According to George Mason University professor Ancha Baranov, the coronavirus infection "takes away resources and brings old age closer." In addition, the encephalopathy of any origin accelerates the aging of the nervous system and contributes to the onset of dementia (age-related dementia). Scientists have already observed that neurological complications of Covid pose a high risk of encephalopathy and dementia. In addition, within three months of a positive test result, one in five survivors was diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or insomnia for the first time. If a patient has been diagnosed with a mental disorder at least a year before COVID-19, their risk of contracting Covid increases by 65% compared to mentally healthy people.
All of the above indicates the need for timely treatment of neuroses, depression, anxiety and other mental disorders, as well as brain disorders. encephalopathy ) as a prevention of premature aging and the incidence of infectious diseases.
The Experts Center, using its own developments and many years of experience of neurological departments and gerontologists of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, has developed an integrative multimodal rehabilitation program for the brain-neurohelp brain with mental disorders, chronic fatigue, burnout, accelerated aging and other consequences of chronic stress.
It consists of a five-day block that includes:
- Two sessions of psychotherapy to relieve chronic stress,
- 5 sessions of transcranial electrical stimulation to restore the correct electrical activity of the brain,
- one session of ketamine therapy to eliminate deep mental stress and activate neurogenesis in the hippocampus,
- prescription of neurometabolic and neuroprotective drugs in the form of drips (two procedures) and tablets.
The course is recommended for 2-3 week blocks depending on the severity of the condition.
The cost of one unit is UAH 9000.
