It is commonly believed that trauma and stress experienced in childhood can largely affect a person's emotional and mental state as a grown up. But a new study has revealed that childhood trauma and stress could also have a biological impact. Researchers saw that it can speed up a person's aging process in adulthood.
The study, which has been published via PNAS, has discovered that individuals who have experienced childhood trauma and stress have shorter telomeres. This is a structure in the chromosomes that determines the aging process, as well as the body's ability to fight illnesses or reduce the risk of early death.
Eli Puterman of the University of British Columbia, who is the study's lead author, describes the telomeres as a lot like the ends of shoelaces that keep the threads from fraying. In the same manner, the telomeres keeps the chromosomes from disintegrating. As a result, cells in the body don't age or die out quickly if the telomeres are long and healthy.
The researchers learned that of the study participants who are above 50-years-old and who have had traumatic experiences as children, the risk of having shorter telomeres can increase by 11 percent, Medical Daily reports. Over 4,500 participants from the United States took part in the research, which had been conducted in two separate instances.
Among what the participants consider as childhood trauma and stress include experiencing the loss of a parent either through death, separation or divorce, family's financial difficulties, relocation, or the parents' addiction to alcohol or drugs. However, Puterman reinforces that it's the social stressors with psychological effects that bring about more trauma and stress over financial reasons.
According to CBS News, previous studies have already indicated how shorter telomeres also affect people who suffer from conditions like Alzheimer's disease, cancer, diabetes, heart or lung disease. There are also studies that correlate stress as disruptive to cell development, which contributes to the faster aging of the immune system.
Eli Puterman also cautions against generalizing the study's findings, especially since childhood trauma and stress are common in life. "This doesn't mean that every single person has short telomeres," he underscored in the research. "It just means there's an increased risk."
