Adversity and psychosocial stress play an important role in the biological aging process through the following pathways. psychological stress enhances the SNS and HPA axis to secrete stress hormones. The binding of these stress hormones to the receptors on the surface of cells leads to energy production and mitochondrial respiration. Energy production and mitochondrial respiration accelerate cellular metabolism and in its turn lead to increases in reactive oxygen species (ROS). cellular stress and damage accumulation can result from an excess of ROS. damage accumulation comprises damages in nuclear DNA (telomeric and non-telomeric regions) and mitochondrial DNA. All these processes work together for accelerating the biological aging process by causing diseases of aging such as cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
