Key points from article :
Stressful events like surgery, pregnancy, and COVID-19 can temporarily age your cells based on DNA methylation clocks.
Scientists at Harvard Medical School used a "blood-sharing" experiment in mice to show how young mice shared the older mice's biological age but reversed it after separation.
Human studies confirmed this: emergency surgery briefly increased biological age compared to elective surgery, and pregnancy followed the same pattern.
Even severe COVID-19 showed reversible age changes, especially in women and those treated with the drug tocilizumab.
This research suggests interventions targeting these "stress-aging" processes could improve health in older adults.
Future studies will explore how temporary stress-induced age changes impact overall aging throughout life.
The findings were published in Cell Metabolism.
