The stress of renting a home can age people faster than if they were obese, a smoker or unemployed, a new study suggests.
Struggling to pay rent, dealing with the hassle of moving out and even the mere stigma of renting can cause tenants to age two and a half weeks faster for every year they rent, according to The British Medical Journal’s Epidemiology & Community Health.
Housing is an important factor in health, the researchers argue, and may have a greater impact on aging than other “social determinants” such as unemployment.
Research has shown that the physical conditions of housing, such as overcrowding or inadequate heating, have an impact on health, but other factors such as affordability are also possible.
Pollution, dirt and other environmental problems can also add to gray hair.
Researchers have found that renting a house can biologically age people faster than smoking cigarettes or getting fat before.Getty Images/iStockphoto The stress of paying rent, moving and dealing with environmental concerns can contribute to faster aging than the stress of unemployment, obesity or smoking, researchers have discovered.Getty Images/iStockphoto
Better housing policies, however, could turn back time and reverse the effects of biological aging, Australian researchers say, and those with subsidized housing do not face the same pressures as those who rent privately.
The study covered a sample of 40,000 households in the UK and began in 1991.
Although housing in the UK is different from the US, Giselle Routhier, co-director of the Health x Housing Lab at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told the HealthDay news site that the findings were not surprising.
Renting a home can cause biological aging at a rate 100% faster than unemployment and 50% faster than smoking, according to a new study.Getty Images/iStockphoto Challenging housing conditions can negatively affect health through faster biological aging, researchers have found. , but can be reversed with better housing policies. Getty Images
“If you don’t have a home where you feel safe and secure, how much more challenging is it to manage your daily life, let alone any medical condition?” he told the outlet.
“These findings may be relevant to housing and health beyond Britain,” the researchers said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/