No one could blame you if you feel under stress these days. Putting aside world and domestic events (which are likely the cause of stress for an untold number of us), if your health is problematic, your caregiving responsibilities are significant, your money concerns are ever-present or life is not as you had hoped it would be, you’re presumably feeling stress regularly. When that feeling of being under stress becomes chronic or even toxic, you need to not only worry about the underlying causes of the stress but also the toll that stress is taking on your physical, cognitive, and emotional health. As we’re beginning to better understand, the consequences of ongoing and relentless stress can ultimately affect how you age and even how long you live.

New research studies underscore this point. For example, a recent study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association reports that whatever cognitive reserve you have built up through such positive activities as social engagement, brain challenges, or physical activity can be diminished due to persistent or high levels of stress. Whatever benefits you’ve accrued through your lifestyle or activities can be stolen from you due to stress, thereby increasing your risk for cognitive decline and dementia. Researchers suggest that stress management may become a lifestyle factor akin to other important lifestyle behaviors such as a healthy diet, physical exercise, or sufficient sleep to lower your risk of dementia. To find out more, take a deep breath and read here. We also have recent research suggesting that chronic stress may promote the conditions to allow certain cancers to metastasize. Even stressful life events from your past, such as a divorce of your parents or the early death of a loved one can put you at greater risk for developing dementia later in life. As reported in a recent study published in the Annals of Neurology, these early-in-life or midlife stressful events have been associated with biological markers indicative of Alzheimer’s, suggesting that these stressful life events may increase your risk of dementia later in life.  In fact, Dr. Lawson Wulsin, author of the new book Toxic Stress: How Stress Is Making Us Ill and What We Can Do About It recently wrote an essay describing how persistent high stress ages individuals in ways comparable to smoking, putting you at risk for such chronic diseases as diabetes, heart disease or obesity. He estimates that about 20% of the population lives with this level of toxic stress and thus chronic disease risk.

However, the negative health effects caused by chronic stress may be reversed at least to some extent. For example, a recent study published in the journal Nutrients reports that adherence to the Mediterranean diet can ease symptoms of stress and anxiety. Other lifestyle factors and “resets” can tamp down stress and the physical consequences that result. Another newly published book, The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience by Harvard physician and researcher Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, recommends science-backed strategies to help individuals overcome and reduce their chronic stress. Her recommendations include limiting your social media scrolling, identifying what matters most to you and setting goals for achieving that, turning down negative thoughts by instead focusing on what you’re grateful for, and recognizing the connection between your body and mind with deep breathing exercises. 

Of course, for a long time, meditation has been recommended as a way to address and lessen feelings of stress. While there are skeptics of this approach to improving your mental and physical health by focusing your mind through thought and breathing exercises, the reality is that more and more scientific evidence supports meditation to not only reduce and relieve stress but to also reduce feelings of pain or help lessen the grip of such unhealthy behaviors as smoking or taking other illicit substances. There’s even recent research published in PLOS ONE that describes a specially designed meditation program to enhance the mental health and happiness of adults over age 65. So simply living with chronic and unrelenting stress should not and cannot be an option for you. There are ways to successfully address the stress you feel and results that are achievable for not only reducing and relieving your stress but also putting you on a better path to health and well-being.