Racism and discrimination lead to faster aging through brain network changes, new study finds
Racism and discrimination lead to faster aging through brain network changes, new study finds
Racism and discrimination lead to faster aging through brain network changes, new study finds
Racism and discrimination lead to faster aging through brain network changes, new study finds
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Beware: self-reported study among less than 100 people.
> **Findings.** In this cohort study of 90 Black women in the US, higher self-reported racial discrimination was associated with greater resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between the locus coeruleus (LC) and precuneus. Significant indirect effects were observed for the association between racial discrimination frequency and DNA methylation age acceleration.
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> **Meaning.** These findings suggest that racial discrimination is associated with greater connectivity in pathways involved with rumination, which may increase vulnerability to stress-related disorders and neurodegenerative disease via epigenetic age acceleration.
Neural network needs further research and development
I haven’t read the science, but it makes sense. If you live life without nuance, your brain will “optimize” to require the least resources. The less you think, the less you need, the less you have.
Might explain why extremists look so old in their 20s and 30s.
A new motivation to not be racist, let’s go!
We’ve known this. The National Institutes of Health has published studies on what’s called “Minority Anxiety Theory” that shows that people faced with bigotry and racism suffer both mental and physical negative effects from it. It leads to all kinds of negative outcomes.
Which I believe is why we’ve seen such a resurgence of these narratives on a national level, to literally reduce the lives and outcomes of the minorities being targeted through constant threats of legal and social punishment. It’s sinister, but scientific.