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Stress and aging

5 important questions on Stress and aging

What happens to your body when aging?

- immunosuppression
- osteoporosis
- slow neural brain recovery
- worsening diabetes type 2
- fatigue, muscle dystrophy

primarily effects of cortisol, excessive cortisol levels: the cause of dying in many species

What is negative feedback inhibition?

Keeps secreting until there is enough in the system.

What happens to the cortisol and negative feedback inhibition during aging?

• Set-point for cortisol can shift: higher during stress
• Older organisms: feedback dysregulated and /or set-point too high: too much cortisol
• Role hippocampus (cortisol-feedback location)

What happens to the set point of cortisol during stress?

The set point raises and there fore there is a higher level of cortisol in the body.
- older organisms: set point is higher -->
role hippocampus as cortisol feedback center.

What is the glucocorticoid neurotoxicity hypothesis?

Cortisol is too high, vicious circle of aging (degenerative cascade)
Stress --> excessive cortisol secretion --> hippocampus loses neurones

--> hippocampus is failing in the negative feedback inhibition

excessive cortisol secretion --> ever more cortisol/ -related damage in body --> premature death.