There are so many factors that can affect our longevity. Some of them, like genes, cannot be controlled, but there are a lot of lifestyle choices involved, too. You probably know that hormone levels change as you age, but how does that affect your actual lifespan?
Let’s focus on one set of hormones in particular: those produced by the adrenal glands. You have two adrenal glands, located just above the kidneys, and between them they produce adrenaline and various types of steroid hormones like cortisol and aldosterone. These can impact our “fight or flight” response to stress as well as mineral balance, blood pressure and metabolism.
It’s not uncommon to see hormone levels reduce as we age, just as the glands producing them become less active, but the glucocorticoids like cortisol actually increase (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2019.00054/full). We know that stress can have an impact on aging and longevity. It puts both body and mind under increased pressure, causing all kinds of damage to your health. Cortisol is a stress-associated hormone, so it seems relevant that it’s higher in the elderly.
Increased cortisol sits alongside a less responsive set of glands (not just the adrenals, but also the pituitary and hypothalamus), meaning your body isn’t necessarily reacting the way it’s supposed to react to life in general. This can affect cognition and mood, showing an apparent relationship to dementia as well as anxiety and depression. Clearly, none of these things are helpful to your longevity, nor are the increased risks of developing high blood pressure or diabetes.
In fact, adrenal aging can have a negative impact on pretty much every part of the body thanks to the complicated ways different hormones interact not just with each other but also organs and other bodily functions. Add to that the stress that traditionally comes with aging, including physical changes, mental changes and wider societal attitudes, and you have a recipe for all kinds of age-related health problems that could reduce your longevity.
If you want to live a long time, you need to be aware of all the different factors that could be affecting how your body and mind do or do not deteriorate. Adrenal health is easy to ignore, but it could change how your body responds to aging and therefore impact your attempts to have a good quality of life right into old age.
