The Secrets of Successful Aging (Part 4)

What Science Tells Us About Growing Older -- And Staying Healthy By TARA PARKER-POPE Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL June 20, 2005

Part 4

What Do We Do About It?

Clearly stress takes a significant physical toll on our bodies. Complicating matters is the fact that not only does stress appear to accelerate aging, but also the older we get, the longer it takes for our bodies to turn off the stress response. So while managing stress is important at any age, it's absolutely crucial as we get older.

So how do we do it?

The first step, of course, is to cover the basics -- eat well, manage your weight and exercise. If you take care of yourself, you're essentially giving stress less to work with -- a healthy body is more resilient against the onslaught of stress.

But that's not enough. At some point in life, everyone faces chronic stress -- whether it's uncertainty at work, in a marriage or about health. Successful agers have faced the same stressors as the rest of us. They just have better coping skills. The good news is that the rest of us can change and learn better coping strategies.

SEEK CONTROL WHEN YOU CAN. The issue of control -- or the lack of it -- is a common theme among stress researchers. Successful agers typically feel in control of their day-to-day lives, but they don't fret about issues they can't control. In his book "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers," Dr. Sapolsky cites a nursing-home study in which one group of residents was given far more control over their daily lives. They were given
responsibility for meals, social activities and even caring for plants in their rooms. Soon, those residents became noticeably more active, more engaged in social activities and were generally happier. Death rates among the residents given more control were half that of other residents during the study period.

Animal studies show that losing control can also produce a powerful physical reaction. In one experiment, rats are taught to press a lever to avoid a mild shock. Remove the lever and the rat becomes highly stressed. Simply disconnect the lever and the rat is less stressed. Even though both rats are being shocked, the rat with the nonworking lever feels more control over the situation and produces fewer stress
hormones than the rat with no lever at all.

The lesson is that stress is easier to cope with -- and produces fewer physical effects -- if we feel a sense of control. So while work stress is inevitable, it's less harmful if you can control various aspects of your day -- such as when you take a lunch break or the type of projects you want to work on.

INFORMATION CAN RELIEVE STRESS. Stress doesn't take as much of a toll if we can predict it. For instance, the nervous public speakers loosened up after a few days of the task. They knew what to expect, and they were less stressed. In rat studies, animals given food on a predictable schedule become highly stressed when given the same amount of food on a random schedule.

The lesson is to seek accurate information in the face of a stressful situation. If you are worried about a job layoff and uncertainty at work, arm yourself with information about the job market and opportunities elsewhere. If you are facing cancer, long-term fears are certain to cause stress, but you can minimize the overall stress of the illness by learning about treatments and side effects so you know what
to expect.

KEEP FRIENDS AND FAMILY CLOSE. Baboons that take part in social grooming have lower blood pressure. Breast-cancer patients who join support groups have lower stress-hormone levels. And the nervous public speakers had lower blood pressure if they had a friend in the audience. Study after study shows social support makes a measurable difference in how we cope with stress and how we age.

（此照片转载自爱生云鹤的Blog，谢谢）

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EXERCISE YOU HATE WON'T HELP AS MUCH AS EXERCISE YOU LIKE. Exercise is the solution for pretty much every health problem, but it especially makes sense in dealing with stress. That's because the stress response is all about boosting energy to the muscles, so using those muscles during exercise is the obvious outlet for releasing stress.

But exercise, by definition, is a form of stress. If you overdo it, you're not helping yourself. At the same time, finding an exercise you like not only will increase the likelihood you will stick with it, but also may give you more benefit. Studies show that rats freely allowed to trot on the exercise wheel have lower stress hormones. But rats forced onto the wheel are stressed by the experience and end up with a high stress response.

In terms of exercise and stress reduction, it's also important to know that the benefits of exercise disappear almost overnight. "It's the exercise you're doing now that's important," Dr. Snowden says. "If you were a college athlete, it's not going to do anything for you in middle age."

The good news is that it's never too late to reap the benefits of exercising. In fact, the older you are, the more immediate benefit you get from exercise.

GET MORE SLEEP. When you start to lose sleep, your body responds the way it always does in a crisis -- it activates the stress response. It has been shown that sleep deprivation increases allostatic load. Study subjects who get only four hours of sleep for several nights had higher nighttime levels of cortisol and blood glucose -- indicating higher allostatic load. But let the participants sleep 10 to 12 hours a night and the allostatic load disappears.

PICK AND CHOOSE YOUR STRESS RELIEF. In the end, everyone deals with stress and aging differently. Stress-management classes, meditation, massage, yoga, religious services -- all of them can relieve stress in the right person and cause stress in the wrong one. A person with a cynical outlook on life might find a touchy-feely stress-management course discomfiting. Few experiences are more stressful than trying to keep up with a fast-paced aerobics class -- but some people love the
experience.

"Even successful agers differ according to how they handle their life experiences," Dr. Snowdon says. "It's something individuals have to manage themselves. You know if you're in trouble."

(from an e-mail we received)