Job stress makes us age If you want to ward off early ageing and
disease, you should reduce your job stress, new research has
found. Finnish researchers have found job stress damages the DNA
in our cells, which makes us age more quickly. The research
showed people with greater job stress have shorter telomeres —
the protective caps on the end of chromosomes. Telomeres shorten
with age, oxidation and chemical insults. When telomeres are
shortened too much, the cells either die or enter a phase called
senescence where they can't reproduce any more, which makes us
more prone to deterioration and disease associated with ageing.
Kirsi Ahola, from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health,
led the study that looked at blood cells called leukocytes,
which are important for immunity. She found people who had
severe exhaustion from job stress had much shorter leukocyte
telomeres than people who were not exhausted. Shorter telomere
length has been linked with type 2 diabetes, heart disease,
cancer and Parkinson's di