Stress-related cell damage is associated with negative mental and physical health outcomes in caregivers

It’s no secret that caregivers of memory-impaired spouses experience tremendous stress. Researchers at Rice University have discovered that this intense pressure is felt at the cellular level and is linked to negative physical and mental health outcomes, including dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

The study entitled “Mitochondrial health, physical functioning and daily affection: bioenergetic mechanisms of dementia caregiver well-being,” will be published online in the magazine Psychosomatic MedicineIt is one of the first studies to investigate how cellular health may influence the well-being of caregivers of partners with dementia, who experience significant daily stress.

“This work builds on our previous research on chronic stress and immunity by highlighting the critical role of cellular health in the mind-body connection,” said Chris Fagundes, a professor of psychological sciences at Rice and one of the study’s authors.

“We found that chronic stress not only affects immune function, but also the health of individual cells, suggesting a deeper, more complex relationship between our mental state and our physical well-being.”

Specifically, the researchers are investigating the link between mitochondria, essentially the engines that power individual cells, and mental and physical health. Energy produced by mitochondria is needed for people to perform daily activities, such as walking, shopping, and driving. One way to measure a person’s cellular health is to determine how much energy remains after these activities.

Fagundes compared the health of cells to the fuel consumption of a car.

“The more energy or fuel you have left after a ride is an indicator of how good your mileage is — or how well things are working,” he said. “It’s kind of the same idea when it comes to the health of your cells.”

Just as cars use less fuel over time, it is normal for cells to have less energy as a person ages. Chronic stressful situations such as caregiving also negatively impact cellular health. However, some individuals’ cells are naturally more resistant to aging and stress than others.

The researchers found that caregivers with less residual cellular energy were less able to engage in physical activities, such as walking and grocery shopping, than caregivers with more residual energy. They also found that these caregivers experienced fewer positive emotions, such as feelings of excitement, inspiration and alertness, compared to caregivers with more residual cellular energy.

While more residual cellular energy is associated with better mental and physical health, less residual cellular energy is associated with increased inflammation. This can lead to a host of negative mental and physical health issues, including eventual diagnosis of conditions such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers hope that the findings in this study can lead to the development of pharmaceutical or therapeutic interventions that target cellular health, which can help caregivers prevent the negative consequences of the stress they are exposed to.

The research was co-led by Cobi Heijnen, Jensine Paoletti-Hatcher, Itee Mahant and Vincent Lai of Rice; Jennifer Stinson of Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Paul Schulz of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Luis Medina of the University of Houston.