Health Behaviors and Stress Predict Accelerated Aging

Although experiencing high levels of stress has been associated with accelerated aging, less is known about the effects of specific types of stress. This study examined two types: major stressful events that occur over a lifetime and individual feelings of perceived stress over the last month. Researchers examined whether these were linked to accelerated aging, and whether health behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, explain the effects.

Three epigenetic clocks (GrimAge, DunedinPACE, PhenoAge) were used to measure accelerated aging. These clocks predict mortality risk across the lifespan by estimating the cumulative “wear and tear,” or biological damage, that builds up over time on a person’s DNA. Faster epigenetic aging can contribute to physical decline and chronic disease, regardless of how many years a person has been alive.

Data from 1308 MIDUS participants was analyzed. They answered questions about two types of stress:

• Stressful life events: how many of 27 stressful events they experienced during their lifetime, such as: death of family members, victimization, environmental disasters, major financial or job problems, divorce, serious legal difficulties, having a parent who used drugs, or having serious issues at school during childhood.
• Perceived stress: how often over the last month they felt a range of stressful emotions, such as anger, nervousness, or feeling overwhelmed.

Participants also reported on the following health behaviors:

• Tobacco use: how many years they smoked cigarettes and how many they smoked in a typical day.
• Alcohol use: how many days they drank during the past month and the average number of drinks per day.
• Sleep: how well they slept, including 19 items, such as: how long it took them to fall asleep, how long they slept, how often they woke during the night, and whether they had trouble staying awake during the daytime.
• Diet quality: how many sugared beverages, servings of fruits and vegetables, and servings of whole grain they consumed on an average day, as well as how often they consumed fast food, beef/high fat meat, and fish in an average week. Higher quality diets were those with less beef/high fat meat and less fast food, as well as fewer sugared beverages.
• Exercise: how often they performed light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity per week.

Results showed that both stressful life events and perceived stress predicted accelerated epigenetic aging indirectly through unhealthy behaviors. Specifically:

• Stressful life events predicted greater tobacco use, alcohol use, and sleep problems, which in turn predicted accelerated epigenetic aging.
• Perceived stress predicted more sleep problems, lower diet quality, and less physical exercise, which in turn predicted accelerated epigenetic aging.

The researchers shared these additional conclusions:

• Poor diet emerged as a key mechanism linking higher perceived stress (but not stressful life events) with accelerated aging. People who feel highly stressed and overwhelmed may have not have the time or dedication to maintain a high-quality diet. Results were similar for exercise, suggesting that feeling stressed is more important for diet and exercise habits than experiencing major stressful life events.
• Tobacco use predicted accelerated aging in all three epigenetic clocks, but alcohol use only predicted it in one (GrimAge). This may suggest that smoking is more significant for accelerated aging than drinking. Or, the result may reflect differences in measurement. Drinking habits were assessed over the last month, whereas participants were asked about smoking over their life course. Further, the study did not take into account whether people had stopped smoking or how long ago. Prior work has shown that smoking cessation can slow epigenetic aging.
• Previous studies have linked perceived stress to increased smoking and alcohol use, although that was not found in this study. A possible explanation may be that perceived stress was measured only over the previous month. Other studies have shown that problematic substance use often emerges earlier in life.
• Stressful life events also affected accelerated aging directly, regardless of health behaviors. This may indicate that the link between stressful events and accelerated aging likely involves biological mechanisms in addition to health behaviors, such as elevated blood pressure among those who experience stressful events.
• This study was cross-sectional, and looked at the chosen variables at only one point in time. Longitudinal studies that measure the variables over time are needed to examine the unfolding process.

Overall, these findings suggest that people who have experienced many stressful life events, or who feel high levels of stress, are at greater risk for accelerated aging that can contribute to physical decline and chronic disease later in life. They underscore the importance of considering different types of stress and health behaviors as predictors of accelerated aging. They also underscore the need for interventions to help people maintain good health behaviors to slow epigenetic aging and reduce the risk for chronic health issues over the long-term.

Source:  Goering, M., Bourassa, K. J., Weinstein, M., Auger, A. P., & Brown, C. K. (2026). The role of health behaviors in links between stress and epigenetic aging. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity – Health, 52, Article 101194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2026.101194

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