summary: Emotional responses to stress change and decrease with age. However, stress can accelerate the aging of the body and negatively affect overall health.
sauce: Northern Arizona University
The first national survey looking at age patterns of daily stress over a 20-year period showed that for most Americans, stress decreased as they got older.
Good news. It’s actually more complicated than that.
A recent study co-authored by Eric Serino, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological Science, examined the stressors American adults experience on a daily basis and how their emotional responses to stress change as participants age. I was. They go through how stress can cause our bodies to age faster and affect our overall health as a unique process in the context of stress.
Research published in developmental psychology The paper, led by David Almeida, professor of human development and family studies at Pennsylvania State University, is the result of a survey of American adults ages 22 to 77 that began in 1996. Based on data from the Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE).
Fortunately, not only are there fewer stressors, but all of us who have dealt with stress for decades are now better able to cope with it, so stress and its effects on humans will only take time. is decreasing with
Reported declines overcome typical stressful life experiences, such as starting a new job or relationship, raising young children, starting a career, or worrying about money, gaining better coping mechanisms and a different outlook on life. It may be related to
“As we get older and scrutinize the time left in our lives, our priorities, social roles, and life motives change, giving priority to the good things in life and eliminating unnecessary sources of everyday stress. It can be less stressful because you try to avoid it,” Cerino said.
“As we age, we may be better able to control our emotions and avoid potential stressors.”
what to know and what to do
NSDE is a unique dataset. Study participants have shared information about their lives over the past 20 years. Every few years, each person answers a series of questions at the end of each of her eight consecutive days.
Researchers asked other questions about how they spent their day, moods, physical symptoms, interactions, and the types of stressful experiences they had throughout the day.
This method allows researchers to study different factors that cause stress, how people respond to those stressors mentally, physically and emotionally, and how 22-year-old recent college graduates turn 32. allowed us to dig deep into how those responses have changed over the years. His 50-year-old, with a working parent and kids getting ready for college, became her 60-year-old empty-handed, preparing for retirement.
The study showed that exposure to everyday stress decreased as people got older, and negative emotional reactions to everyday stress also decreased until their mid-fifties.
Although they didn’t explicitly test the reasons for these changes, Cerino said he hypothesized: The new social roles people are likely to assume in early adulthood are It can be quite stressful. Especially for those who juggle multiple social roles at once, they need to find ways to deal with new everyday stressors they may not have dealt with before.
“This study helps us understand what everyday stress looks like as we age,” he said.
“While it is encouraging that stress exposure decreases with age, it is also important to recognize how emotional responses to stress change with age.
“Previous research by our team and others suggests that it is not the number of stressors you experience each day that increases your risk of health problems, but your emotional response to those stressors. It has been suggested that identifying ways to deal with these daily stressors contributes to healthy aging outcomes.”
Stress as the ‘speedometer of life’
Stress doesn’t make life go faster, but it might feel that way when you’re ticking towards an important deadline. But chronic stress can shorten your life. Decades of research have shown that stress causes the body to wear out, says Cellino, and 60 years ago, researcher Hans Selye called stress “the speedometer of life.” I was there. Since then, researchers have looked deeper into the speedometer of human lifespan.
“The biological responses triggered by stressors in our environment include the release and activation of various stress hormones,” he said.
“Chronic exposure to these stress hormones can lead to accumulated wear and tear on the body, increasing the risk of illness and death. suggests that your emotional response to those stressors, rather than the number of stressors you experience each day, may contribute to cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, increased inflammation and risk of death. I’m here.
Against this backdrop, the next wave of data collection from the NSDE, with which Cerino is a collaborator, could be uniquely enlightening. It’s the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
The idea also points to genuine concern about developing healthy habits to reduce stress, but Cerino says a balanced diet and exercise alone aren’t enough. . (Those are good, but do it if you can.)
Previous research collected from the NSDE showed that marginalized or historically marginalized adults tended to have more negative emotional reactions to everyday stress. rice field. Systemic barriers to access to healthy coping mechanisms can establish imbalances and increase stress. The social and psychological fields need to prioritize ways to promote health equity and provide resources that support healthy aging.
what’s next
Serino’s research will continue on the basis of this research. The team’s next step is to examine how other aspects of people’s daily lives change throughout adulthood. His current project examines how perceived control over daily stress changes with age.
“With undergraduate and graduate students in NAU’s Healthy Aging Lab, we explore how managing daily stress can serve as a psychosocial resource to help promote cognitive, physical, and mental well-being throughout life. I’m going to find out,” he said.
About this stress research news
author: press office
sauce: Northern Arizona University
contact: Press Office – Northern Arizona University
image: image is public domain
Original research: open access.
“Longitudinal changes in daily stress over 20 years of adulthood: results of a national survey of daily experiences” David M. Almeida et al. developmental psychology
overview
Longitudinal changes in daily stress over 20 years of adulthood: results of a national survey of daily experiences
This study examined age-related patterns of exposure to everyday stressors and emotional responses over a 20-year period in adults aged 22 to 77 at baseline interviews.
Longitudinal data from the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE) consisted of three bursts of eight consecutive nightly interviews on stress and effects. The analysis utilized all available data from a US national sample of respondents who participated in one of her three NSDE bursts (N. = 2,845; daily ratings = 33,688).
Findings revealed an increase in age-related benefits. Young adults (<30 years old) reported the highest levels of stressor exposure and reactivity, but their stress profile improved with age.
Over time, adults showed an average 11% reduction in the incidence of stressor days, and young adults showed an even more rapid decline (47% reduction) in stressor reactivity levels.
In middle-aged and older adults, stressor incidence continued to decline over time, whereas in adults aged 54 years or older at baseline, stress reactivity remained stable over time.
