It’s become such a way to life for most of us that we mindlessly go about our day stressed and overwhelmed, but few of us actually stop to think how this may be affecting our health.

Researchers at UC San Francisco have been studying the impacts of stress on longevity, and their findings are alarming.

Stress Impacts Hormone Levels

Hormones impact many aspects of overall health and wellness, and when the hormone levels are negatively affected it can have a detrimental effect on your body.

Researchers found that women who suffer from chronic stress show lower levels of a hormone called “klotho.” This hormone is responsible for enhancing cognition (making you smarter) and slows aging.  Studies indicate that chronic low levels of klotho may lead to premature disease and even death.  Although more research is needed, initial findings are showing a strong ties to chronic stress and decreases overall health.

How Klotho Impacts Overall Health and Wellness

The hypothesis is that high levels of stress impact klotho hormone levels.  When the klotho levels begin to drop, a person can potentially experience an increase in health problems such as: Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, depression, and more.

Previous research studies have found that disrupted levels of klotho can lead to loss of bone and muscle, hardening of the arteries, and other symptoms of aging. On the other hand studies have found that high levels of klotho can lead to better cognitive function and a decrease in age-related diseases and illnesses.

Research Study Findings

In this observational research study, 90 high stress caregivers were observed, as well as 88 controls who were considered low-stress people and were otherwise healthy. It has been known for a while that klotho naturally starts to decline with age, and the researchers wanted to identify whether the decline of klotho happens earlier in life because of chronic stress.

In this cross-sectional group of women, the participants were in their 30’s and 40’s. It was determined that the high-stress women experienced a decline in klotho earlier in life, and the low-stress women didn’t show signs of this decline.

How to naturally increase Klotho levels to improve your brain function and slow aging

One way to negate the negative affects of chronic stress is by finding ways to manage your stress levels.  You many not think so, but even making small changes in your daily habits can have a big impact on your stress levels.  Things like daily meditation can really help you become more mindful and lower stress which ultimately helps klotho levels from dropping.

Also recent studies have found that exercise has been found to increase klotho levels.  Although the study wasn’t clear on the type of exercise… other than that it was moderate aerobic exercise training…. I think it’s safe to say that pretty much any form of exercise will help.  It would be interesting to see if one type of exercise increases klotho levels more than others… but if it’s anything like mitochondria (another anti-aging factor) my money is on short high intensity exercises OR long easy exercises like walking.

Lastly, active vitamin D has also been shown to increase levels of klotho.  The only problem is that it’s not the OTC vitamin D supplement.  It’s only a prescription based active vitamin D commonly prescribe for people with chronic kidney disease.  But there are some evidence the combining regular vitamin D along with resveratrol may have some positive impact on klotho as well.