Links Between Chronic Pain, Work & Family Interactions, and Stress Hormones
Chronic pain can be significantly detrimental to people’s lives and can both aggravate, and be aggravated by, stress. This study looked at how stress at work and home interact with chronic pain and whether it disrupts the normal daily (diurnal) patterning of the stress hormone cortisol.
Can Psychedelics Help Maintain Thinking Skills and Lower Depression as We Age?
This study looked at whether psychedelic therapy could be useful in reducing expected increases in rates of dementia in future years, as well as alleviating the depression that can be associated with it.
Is Accelerated Aging Linked to Having More Chronic Conditions?
This study looked at whether accelerated biological and brain age is related to multimorbidity (having 2 or more chronic conditions), something that is increasingly common among older adults.
Does Experiencing Discrimination Make us More Forgetful?
This study explored whether being forgetful, such as not being able to remember a word or why you’ve entered a room, is worsened by experiences of daily or lifetime discrimination.
Certain Types of Sleep May Contribute to Chronic Illness
Researchers have linked insomnia and napping to an increased risk of developing physical & mental illness as we age.
Enjoying Nature May Reduce Inflammation
This MIDUS study looked at whether enjoying time in nature is associated with systemic inflammation that is part of many aging-related diseases.
Is What You Believe About Whether Money Buys Happiness as Important as Having Money?
Participants in this MIDUS study indicated what they thought was important to leading a good life. Researchers looked at how believing in the importance of having money or a high status job affected levels of happiness and well-being, and compared those views with those who actually had a higher income or a better job.
Smoking May Compromise Health at a Much Earlier Age than Previously Expected
MIDUS participants were interviewed over long periods of time to see how early in life smoking starts to affect their ability to carry out tasks of daily living, such as walking up stairs.
Lack of Positive Relationships Matter for Links Between Depression & Anxiety
This study used MIDUS data spanning almost 20 years to investigate how having fewer positive relationships affects the likelihood that a person with depression will develop anxiety or vice versa.
MIDUS Findings Archive
View all Recent Findings from the MIDUS Study
Visit the MIDUS website to learn more about the MIDUS (Midlife in the United States) study