Professor of Biochemistry at the School of Immunology, Trinity College, Luke O’Neill told Pat Kenny how stress is the silent killer in our modern lives.
“Each extra hassler makes you lose nine months of your life”, Professor Luke O’Neill explained on the Pat Kenny Show on Sunday.
He explained how people who cause others stress can actively cause DNA damage and effectively precipitate aging.
An American study of two and a half thousand people found that the people who give you grief literally shorten your life by nine months on average per hassler.
“A hassler is someone who’s often hassling you, irritating you or maybe criticizing or excluding you”, Luke O’Neill told Newstalk.
“As we age our DNA gets stained so if a 60 year-old-man has the number of marks that would be associated with being a 70-year-old it means your biological age is 70.
“The marks in your DNA cause inflammation in your body due to factors like smoking, lack of exercise which speed up the ageing process.
Artwork of DNA. Picture by: Science Photo Library.
He noted that the damage could be reversed with lifestyle changes.
“If you get rid of the hasslers from your life, your ageing process slows down a bit”, he proposed.
“If they’ve caused trouble before, don’t meet that person if you can avoid it. It’s harder to do when they’re your family but the more stressed you are the quicker you age.
“That’s partly due to cortisol which seems to increase the rate at which you age.
The report found that 10% of spouses are defined as hasslers and 5% of grandparents are.
Siblings are also a big group designed as hasslers by the study.
“It’s suggested to reverse those effects after someone has bothered you, you can go out, have a jog, run or even go to the gym”, Prof. O’Neill advised.
“It releases things in your body but it doesn’t necessarily remove the stain entirely.”
“People have illnesses caused by trauma.”
Main Image: Workplace Bullying. Picture by: Alamy.