It’s no great secret that eating a good diet and exercising can help you live a longer, healthier life.
However, according to longevity expert Dr Matt Kaeberlein, there’s something else we should all be addressing—stress.
Kaeberlein, who founded healthtech company Optispan, has spent most of his academic career researching how we can live healthier for longer.
He says that most people don’t realise how stress can impact longevity.
“There’s very good evidence that chronic stress accelerates how fast you age,” Kaeberlein says.
“People who suffer from chronic stress develop pretty much every age-related disease, or they have a higher risk for pretty much every age-related disease going forward.”
Are all types of stress bad for you?
Kaeberlein isn’t talking about the stress you experience occasionally, like when you’re running late or cooking a complicated meal in a busy kitchen.
“Stress is a simple concept, but it can be complicated in that, sometimes stress is good,” he says.
The right kind of stress can help you get tasks done and motivate you.
Chronic stress, however, doesn’t provide any kind of benefits. This is the type of stress you experience consistently, for a long time.
According to Kaeberlein, it’s not uncommon.
“Most people have chronic stress, and it’s really the chronic stress that is detrimental to your health,” he says.
How to figure out if you have chronic stress
Knowing whether or not you have chronic stress is simply a matter of identifying whether or not you’re regularly stressed.
“You don’t need complicated devices. I think most people, if they are in touch with themselves, can tell if they are stressed or not,” Kaeberlein says.
If you’re struggling to identify your emotions, some devices can help you keep tabs on your stress levels.
“We have a growing number of tools [and metrics] that we can use to estimate whether somebody is experiencing an unhealthy level of chronic stress. Heart rate variability is a good example,” Kaeberlein says.
(Image credit: Getty Images/ andreswd)
Fitness trackers from Apple, Oura and Garmin offer heart rate variability tests. These aren’t 100% accurate, but they can show you trends in your heart rate variability and give you a general indication of stress levels.
If you’re looking for a more sophisticated test, Kaeberlein recommends a device called Morpheus.
“If you can measure it well, [heart rate variability] is actually a really powerful biomarker for understanding whether somebody is experiencing chronic stress at a level that is unhealthy for them,” says Kaeberlein.
Two ways that Dr Matt Kaeberlein reduced his stress levels
If you are experiencing stress, it’s a good idea to speak to a healthcare professional. But there are also things you can do in your daily life to reduce stress.
“Anything that we can do to learn how to manage that stress will have a positive impact on our health going forward,” says Kaeberlein.
Kaeberlein says there are two key things he’s done to reduce his stress levels.
(Image credit: Getty Images/ FG Trade Latin)
Exercise
Regular exercise has lots of benefits, but many people don’t realise it’s also a great stress-buster.
“Lifting weights is a great stress management tool,” says Kaeberlein, revealing that this is the main form of exercise he does. “I exercise regularly. That’s something that I obviously believe is very important for health.”
Limit social media
“In our daily lives, in the world that we live in today, we are overwhelmed with information and stimuli,” says Kaeberlein.
“There’s a variety of aspects to how social media can cause stress. One is how much negative information is on social media.
“The constant underlying negative feelings or negative information that you’re experiencing drives chronic release of hormones like cortisol.”
As such, Kaeberlein says that he tries to limit the amount he uses social media.
“I tend to stay off of social media, and I tend not to consume a lot of news right now,” he says.
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