It’s no surprise to anyone that we live in stressful times. But what may surprise you is that stress can have significant ramifications for your health and well-being as you age. Women, in particular, are known to be susceptible to the negative effects of an overload of stress hormones. The brain responds to stress by releasing potentially harmful stress hormones that are linked to all sorts of medical problems including heart disease, high blood pressure, weakened immune systems and increasingly, brain changes leading to cognitive decline. For a good overview of the impact of stress on aging bodies, calm your mind and read here.

And now new research has shown even more potential risk for women who experience stress as they age. First, out of Johns Hopkins Medical Center and published in The International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, comes word that women who have had a greater number of stressful life experiences in their later middle years may experience a greater decline in brain and memory functioning than women who have not experienced such incidents. Men, on the other hand, were not found to have this negative impact from stressful events. You can read more about this concerning research here. And for postmenopausal women, there are also new research findings that link heightened social stress and negative social interactions to increased bone loss, which is already a huge concern given the prevalence of osteoporosis in older women. Find out whether your bones may be at heightened risk by reading here.

Given the effects of stress on the aging body, it’s critical to look for ways to mitigate or lessen its impact. One hopeful sign? Meditation is known to calm and focus a stressful mind, and a recent study from the National Institutes of Health found that “Loving Kindness Meditation” protects your body’s telomeres from getting shorter (something that stress can also cause and that can speed up the aging process). To find out more, check out this recent agebuzz post on the health benefits of this type of meditation.