A study by North Carolina State University has found that younger adults feel and look older on days they experience high stress, particularly when they also perceive a lack of control over their lives. This research expands the understanding of how stress affects age perception across different age groups, highlighting the need for interventions to address the mental and physical health impacts of stress among younger adults.
A new study finds younger adults look and feel older on stressful days – but only on days when they also feel they have relatively less control over their own lives.
“There’s substantial research that tells us stress makes older adults feel their age, or even feel older than they actually are,” says Shevaun Neupert, corresponding author of the study and a professor of psychology at DOI: 10.1002/mhs2.56