Loneliness may make our biological clock tick faster.
Being lonely and feeling unhappy can accelerate the aging process more than smoking, according to a recent article published in Aging-US.
“We demonstrate [that] psychological factors, such as feeling unhappy or being lonely, add up to one year and eight months to one’s biological age,” said lead author Dr. Fedor Galkin, director of scientific business development at Deep Longevity in Hong Kong, according to a statement.
“The aggregate effect exceeds the effects of biological sex, living area and marital and smoking status,” he said. “We conclude the psychological component should not be ignored in aging studies due to its significant impact on biological age.”
