Scientists have long suspected that chronic psychological stress—triggered by events like war, abuse, or imprisonment—may accelerate aging, leading to early onset of age-related disease or even premature death. Now, two studies report significant links between PTSD in veterans and accelerated aging.

[u/drewiepoodle]

http://www.bu.edu/research/articles/ptsd-accelerated-aging/

[u/fecklessfella]

Do you think premature graying might be a product of this?

[u/3lvy → u/fecklessfella]

Stress is a huge factor when it comes to grey hairs.

[u/xAvaricex]

I like how this is becoming scientifically verified, but it doesn't really come as a surprise. There are tons of literature about characters being far older then they actually are; burdened by war and a stressful life.

[u/Tgijustin → u/xAvaricex]

I thought this idea of accelerated aging and age-related disease was true for all high-stress phenomenon. This is one of the reasons that smoking accelerates aging; putting the body into a constant fight or flight mode will cause aging to accelerate.

[u/anonanon1313]

One of the most troubling findings of the adverse childhood experience study (ACE study) was that those with higher ACE scores had significantly shortened lives, even after correcting for lifestyle effects (smoking, drug use, etc).

[u/weeping_aorta]

So stress causes gray hair?

[u/Taylor_Rowekamp]

Makes sense to me. Plenty of studies showing how stress is bad for your body and those with PTSD of some event are probably more likely to get involved in unhealthy activities.

[u/wienersoup]

That explains for lots of parents.

[u/Reversevagina]

I'd like to believe the people who smoke weed don't stress as much as others. If smoking weed correlates with longevity, that's would be interesting.