-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email This article was originally published on The Conversation . Racism steals time from people’s lives – possibly because of the space it occupies in the mind. In a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, our team showed that the toll of racism on the brain was linked to advanced aging , observed on a cellular level.
Black women who were more frequently exposed to racism showed stronger connections in brain networks involved with rumination and vigilance. We found that this, in turn, was connected to accelerated biological aging. We are neuroscientists who use a variety of approaches , including self-reported data and biological measurements like brain scans, to answer our questions about the effects of stressors on the brain and body .
We also use this data to inform the development of interventions to help people cope with this stress. Why it matters Aging is a natural process. However, stress can speed up the biological clock , making people more vulnerable to aging-related diseases , from cardiovascular disease to diabetes and dementia.
Related Racism derails Black men’s health, even as education levels rise Epidemiological studies consistently show that Black people experience these aging-related health problems at an earlier age than white people . New studies also show focal effects of aging on the brain, indicating disparities in brain aging between Black and white populations . Race-related stressors, including .