This study carried out by New Zealand researchers suggests that health problems detected during adolescence, as well as certain habits, could have a long-term impact on biological ageing.
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What causes ageing?
Published in February, the study required the participation of 910 people, over a period of several decades.
The researchers looked at the health conditions that the subjects encountered during their adolescence, that created accelerated ageing of the brain.
The health problems and habits observed were:
- Obesity
- Psychological conditions
- Asthma
- Hyperactivity
- Early smoking
One good thing is that most of these issues can be treated to some extent by medicine.
Kyle Bourassa, the lead author of this study, explains the relationship between pathological problems and signs of ageing:
We see depression as a disease that originates in the brain, with chemical disturbances and that sort of thing. But depression is probably a systemic illness that affects the body as a whole.
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Brains get older
The results of the study are surprising. It concludes that the biological age of people who had asthma during adolescence would not be above average today. But, participants who reported having at least two other health problems, listed above, would age faster.
Their brains would indeed be biologically older by 2 and a half years, and they would have a lower than average walking speed (slower by 11.5 centimetres per second). To draw these conclusions, the researchers carried out many tests such as blood tests, comparing body mass indexes and MRIs.
The good news in all of this? This premature ageing can be caused by problems that we know how to treat. Fighting against smoking and treating psychological disorders in adolescents would increasingly prevent advanced ageing.
