Over time, our body changes - this is a natural given. As we age, our cells stop working as they used to, leading to various diseases. However, the speed of this process can be different, and in our time we often observe signs of premature aging.
Its symptoms are: a decrease in mental and physical performance, fatigue, memory impairment, weakening of emotions and sexual function, a decrease in the adaptive capabilities of the cardiovascular, nervous and other body systems, the early occurrence of age-related prerequisites for the development of diseases.
What determines the rate of aging? Why do some people age faster and are more prone to age-related diseases, while others retain good appearance, mind and health until old age? There is no particular mystery in the answer to this question. Remember the famous expression: "He grew old with grief." To formulate this expression more precisely, it should sound "He has aged from stress."
During the 20th century, much scientific evidence accumulated for this popular observation. For example, the Kiev professor G. B. Bykhovsky back in 1928 cited data that during the First World War and the revolution, many young people under the influence of mental unrest and “nervous mental trauma” developed premature gray hair and atherosclerosis. The same mechanism works in animals: in the forties, in the laboratory of the famous physiologist I.P. Pavlov, they discovered that dogs that were in a state of chronic stress (“experimental neurosis,” as it was then called) gradually acquired a decrepit appearance, looked older than their own. age, had gray hair and dystrophic phenomena on the skin. Their teeth fell out and the lenses of their eyes became cloudy, their muscle tone and sexual arousal were lost, and they often suffered from a tumor disease. At the same time, the dogs, protected from irritations, looked significantly younger than their years.
Today, leading gerontologists (experts in the field of aging) say that "One of the main factors determining life expectancy, the type of human aging, is undoubtedly a social factor that characterizes the whole complex range of environmental impact on the human body." And among the social factors, the leading place is occupied by stresses that have a detrimental effect on the entire body.
Overstrain of the nervous system, often recurring stressful situations that cause dysregulation, functional, and then structural changes in various physiological systems of the body, greatly contribute to the development of pathological abnormalities and, thus, lead to premature aging. Clinical data show that permanent psycho-emotional stress (chronic stress) is one of the main risk factors for the development of such age-related problems as coronary heart disease, hypertension and dementia (dementia), that is, the process of accelerated aging primarily affects the cardiovascular and nervous systems. This is especially clearly revealed in persons engaged in intense mental work.
Hans Selye, the founder of the doctrine of stress, wrote that “Aging is the result of all the stresses that the body has been exposed to throughout life. … Any stress, especially caused by fruitless efforts leading to frustration, leaves behind irreversible chemical scars; their accumulation causes signs of tissue aging.
Gerontologists I. N. and G. I. Todorov indicate that the same stressor usually causes a more intense stress response in old people or animals than in young people: “So, obviously, this vicious circle develops: stress accelerates aging, and aging increases body's response to stressors. At the Research Institute of Gerontology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, it was found that with aging, a complex of hormonal, metabolic, tissue and cellular changes often occurs, called by academician V. V. Frolkis “stress-age syndrome”.
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 hardships and sorrows reduce the days of life. Aging, a person begins to live, as it were, 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) found that age-related changes in the brain are activated under the influence of stress, that is, due to stress, 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 becomes one of the causes of impaired memory and thinking 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 underactive immune response. This is one reason why the risk of cancer increases with age, and three-quarters of all cancers are diagnosed after age 55.
That is why the consequences of life's adversity, expressed in mental health disorders, such as neuroses, depression, anxiety, etc., are factors that accelerate aging. This is especially true for age depressionwhich 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 patients with clinically significant anxiety disorders have significantly shorter telomeres—the ends of chromosomes that are known markers of biological aging—compared to those of non-psychiatric patients. And scientists at Boston University in the United States found that the most severe signs of aging were those veterans who suffered more from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which arose against the background of participation in hostilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has long been known that people with severe mental disorders die at an earlier age on average and are at increased risk of developing physical illnesses that usually appear in old age, such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, immune disorders and dementia.
And what are the characteristics of long-livers? Their life expectancy, along with genes, is influenced by factors of genetic-environmental interaction, in other words, personal factors. Among these, researchers note: mental health, optimism, sense of humor, stress resistance, diligence, general activity, altruism and helping other people, intelligence and creativity, optimal organization of life time, self-improvement. Therefore, slow biological aging is characterized by the least severity of age-related changes, contributes to an increase in life expectancy and longevity.
Today there is a new cause of accelerated aging - Complications of Covid-19. According to George Mason University professor Anchi Baranova, the coronavirus infection “takes away resources and brings old age closer.” Besides, encephalopathy of any origin accelerates the aging of the nervous system and contributes to the occurrence of dementia (age-related dementia). Scientists have already observed that the neurological complications of Covid create a high risk of developing 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 was diagnosed with a mental disorder at least a year before COVID-19, their risk of getting covid is increased by 65% compared to mentally healthy people.
All of the above indicates the need for timely treatment of neurosis, depression, anxiety and other mental disorders, as well as brain disorders (encephalopathy) as a prevention of premature aging and the incidence of infectious diseases.
In the center "Expio", using our own developments and many years of experience of the neurological departments of the Research Institute of Gerontology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, on the basis of which we are based, an integrative multimodal brain rehabilitation program "Antiage-Neurohelp" has been developed for mental disorders, chronic fatigue, burnout, accelerated aging and other consequences chronic stress.
It consists of a five-day block that includes:
– two sessions of psychotherapy to relieve 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 droppers (two procedures) and tablets.
The course is recommended for 2 - 3 weekly blocks, depending on the severity of the condition.
The cost of one block is 9000 UAH.