Can stress stop you from ageing?

A growing number of experts believe that the right kind of stress can actually slow the clock. Anna Magee finds out more

- Anna Magee

Taken in small doses and at regular intervals, certain physical and mental stressors – regular tough exercise, mind-bending intellectual work, urgent deadlines – could not only strengthen your immune system, they could help fight some of the physical and mental decline that comes with ageing.

How it works

‘There’s been too much emphasis on the unhealthy aspects of stress and the assumption that all types of stress are bad,’ says Dr Mark Mattson, Chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging in the US. ‘But the right kind of stress can improve the length and quality of life.’

Regular exposure to mild stressors causes a defensive response in the body, which leads to a building up of the body’s defence systems, such as brain, immune and muscle function, that would otherwise decline as we age. That strengthening process, called hormesis, means that by exposing ourselves intermittently to mild stressors, we may, over time, protect ourselves against further, bigger challenges by building up the body’s ability to fight backmentally and physically.

Good stress

Dr Mattson suggests these good stressors for us to incorporate into our daily lives:

Exercise ‘We can’t get all the benefits that we know come from exercise without stressing out our bodies a little bit,’ says Greg Whyte, Professor at Liverpool John Moores University. ‘The body adapts to regular episodes of physical stressors by getting fitter.’

What to do? The optimum is 30 minutes a day, five times a week, says Professor Whyte. The fastest results are seen through interval training, such as the short interval-training programmes in his book Fit In 5 (Human Kinetics).