How does stress affect the aging process? How do stress responses vary by gender?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

As people get older, each person becomes less and less like anyone else. The older people are, the more time has elapsed for such factors as nutrition, genetics, physical activity, and everyday stress to influence physical and psychological aging.
Stress contributes to a variety of age-related conditions. Both physical stressors (such as alcohol abuse, other drug abuse, smoking, pain, and illness) and psychological stressors (such as exams, divorce, moving, and the death of a loved one) elicit the body’s stress response. The body responds to such stressors with an elaborate series of physiological reactions, as the nervous and hormonal systems bring about defensive readiness in every body part. These effects favor physical action—the classic fight-or-flight response. Prolonged or severe stress can drain the body of its reserves and leave it weakened, aged, and vulnerable to illness, especially if physical action is not taken. As people age, they lose their ability to adapt to both external and internal disturbances. When disease strikes, the reduced ability to adapt makes the aging individual more vulnerable to death than a younger person. Strategies to preserve health forestall disease, disability, and death.

Because the stress response is mediated by hormones, it differs between men and women. The fight-or-flight response may be more typical of men than of women. Women’s reactions to stress more typically follow a pattern of “tend-and-befriend.” Women tend by nurturing and protecting themselves, their children, and other loved ones. These actions promote safety and reduce stress. Women befriend by creating and maintaining a social group that can help in the process.