The Conversation, August 5, 2024, Racism And Discrimination Lead To Faster Aging Through Brain Network Changes, New Study Finds
In our study of Black women, we found that more frequent racial discrimination was linked to more connectivity between two key regions. One, called the locus coeruleus, is a deep brain region that activates the stress response, promoting arousal and vigilance. The other is the precuneus, a key node of a brain network that engages when we think about our experiences and internalize – or suppress – our emotions.
These brain changes, in turn, were linked to accelerated cellular aging measured by an epigenetic “clock.” Epigenetics refers to changes that happen to our DNA from the environment. Epigenetic clocks assess how the environment affects our aging at a molecular level.
