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No doubt living with a mental illness can make you feel worn out, but a new study has shown that it’s more than just a feeling–your body really is wearing out more quickly.

According to research presented at the 2023 European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris, those with a history of mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder have biomarkers suggesting we’re older than we really are.

“Our findings indicate that the bodies of people with mental health problems tend to be older than would be expected for an individual their age,” lead researcher Julian Mutz explained. “For example, people with bipolar disorder had blood markers indicating that they were around two years older than their chronological age.”

How did the study determine biological age?

To pin down their subjects’ biological age, Mutz and colleague Cathryn Lewis, both of King’s College London, analyzed the blood metabolites of over 100,000 UK residents. Metabolites are small organic compounds created by the human metabolism, like glucose, cholesterol, and amino acids. The concentration of some metabolites in the bloodstream increases over time while others decline, enabling researchers to use them as a measure of age. Mutz and Lewis found that individuals who were mentally ill had a metabolite profile beyond their years.

Previous studies have shown that people with long-term mental illness tend to be less physically healthy than the general population. We’re more prone to conditions like heart disease and diabetes, and we have shorter life expectancies, too–seven years shorter on average for women and ten years shorter for men.

Why do people with mental illness age more quickly?

There are several ways that mental illness can take a toll on the body.

People with mental disorders are at higher risk of poverty and homelessness, precarious living conditions known to shorten life expectancy. The stigma around mental illness can lead to social isolation and even violence, which have a negative effect on overall wellness.

The symptoms of mental illness can also interfere with a person’s ability to maintain healthy habits. People who are mentally ill are more likely to smoke and less likely to eat a nutritious diet and get regular exercise.

Finally, the illness itself has a physical impact. Anxiety and depression increase the circulation of stress hormones in the bloodstream and lead to chronic inflammation, contributing to age-related diseases.

What can you do to avoid aging before your time?

Accelerated aging isn’t a foregone conclusion when you have a mental illness. You can take steps to stay healthy and slow the aging process.

The first and foremost is to pursue treatment for your mental health symptoms–don’t just muddle through on your own. Diagnosis, therapy, and, if appropriate, medication can improve your quality of life and ease the strain mental illness puts on your body.

Regular mindfulness meditation, meanwhile, has been shown to reduce not only the psychological symptoms of anxiety and depression but also their physical effects in the form of stress hormones and inflammation.

If your symptoms are under control, you can work on living a healthy lifestyle by eating well, getting physical activity, giving up smoking, and nurturing positive relationships. All of these practices will benefit both your physical and your mental health.

For Mutz, this research isn’t a bad-news story but an opportunity to improve health outcomes for those with mental illness.

“If we can use these markers to track biological aging,” he says, “this may change how we monitor the physical health of people with mental illness and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving physical health.”