2023-10-15 22:10:15
Acceleration of biological aging due to residential instability… faster than smoking and obesity
Entered 2023.10.16 07:10 Views 20 Entered 2023.10.16 07:10 Modified 2023.10.15 20:20 Views 20
A recent study found that frequent moving can actually make people age very quickly. [사진=게티이미지뱅크]“Once you move, you feel like you’ve aged 10 years.” This is often said to mean that finding a new home is a lot of emotional pain and difficult. In fact, recent research has shown that frequent moving can cause people to age quickly.
Recently, researchers from the University of Essex and the University of Adelaide in Australia published an analysis showing that unstable housing environments can accelerate biological aging at a faster rate than obesity, smoking, or unemployment. The paper was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Research results showed that tenants who rented private housing aged 17 days faster per year. This is because they experienced high levels of stress due to their relatively unstable living environment.
This showed a stark difference in the acceleration of aging compared to those with relatively high residential stability. Tenants living in public rental housing, which is guaranteed a relatively long rental period and receives a significant portion of the rent subsidized by the government, aged 4.8 days faster per year. The acceleration of aging for people who owned their own home with a loan was also only 3 days per year.
The acceleration of aging by ’17 days per year’ is more serious than the health hazards previously known to accelerate aging. When the acceleration of aging was analyzed in the same way as in this study, smoking and obesity made people age 7.7 and 8.4 days faster per year, respectively. In particular, even unemployment, which is known to put people under extreme stress for a short period of time, accelerated aging by only 9.9 days per year.
Amy Clare, a researcher at the Australian Center for Housing Research who participated in this study, told Fortune, an American media outlet, saying, “The amount of housing a tenant can afford, the stable rental period, and the living environment actually have real and important consequences for an individual’s health.” He pointed out, “The speed of biological aging is directly related to deterioration of health (senescence), increased risk of chronic diseases, and death.”
Comparison of acceleration of aging by major health hazards and residential stability. Infographic = Comedy.com DB.
Another noteworthy point in this study is the analysis of the fact that even various problematic factors that cause housing instability affect the acceleration of aging.
First of all, the housing cost issue also had a significant impact on the acceleration of aging. When tenants defaulted on rent, they aged 12 days faster per year. It was the next fastest rate for private housing tenants to feel housing insecurity. Additionally, people who were burdened with rental costs (housing costs) also aged 5.5 days faster per year.
The situation of considering moving also promoted accelerated aging. For example, situations in which people would like to live longer in their current location but have to move due to contract issues (unwanted decision to move) accelerated the acceleration of aging by 3.3 days per year.
Meanwhile, various problematic situations that can be encountered in the residential environment also affect aging. Small living spaces due to overcrowding also made people age 5.1 days faster per year. Poor living conditions with insufficient heating facilities made people age faster by 8.8 days per year, and water leaks from roofs caused them to age faster by 4.8 days per year.
Environmental factors such as residential area and housing type also had a significant impact. In particular, people living in apartment-style housing (flats), such as multi-generational or multi-family housing, which is the dominant housing type in Korea, aged as quickly as 12 days per year. The presence of environmental pollution problems nearby also accelerated the aging process by 3.7 days per year. On the other hand, when people lived in rural areas with relatively good natural environments, they aged 2.19 days more slowly per year.
The researchers suggested that they hope future government housing policies will take note of the results of this study. This is because housing policies such as increasing housing cost support and limiting rent increases can protect individual health. The paper emphasized, “Biological aging can be partially reversed or alleviated when the problem factors are resolved,” adding, “This means that changes in the government’s housing policy can improve individual health.”
The study collected detailed living conditions and additional health information from 1,420 people who participated in the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). Blood samples were collected from the subjects under investigation and DNA methylation (a chemical indicator of DNA change) analysis was performed.
The researchers standardized the DNA analysis results into the ‘DunedinPoAm clock’, a method of indicating an individual’s biological aging rate. This indicator calculates ‘aging speed’ rather than ‘aging state’. In the article, for convenience, the resulting indicators were converted from annual to daily units. The paper can be found at the following link:
Acceleration of aging by residential environment problem factors. Infographic = Comedy.com DB.
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