The Secret to Aging Well Might Be Tension and Release

There's something I've noticed after years of working closely with people's bodies.

How youthful someone looks seems to have less to do with age, and more to do with the type of stress they carry.

Psychology apparently makes a distinction between good stress (eustress) and bad stress (distress).

Chronic bad stress, like staying stuck in a job you dislike or a tense home environment, keeps cortisol levels elevated.

There's research suggesting this can reduce the skin's antioxidant capacity and increase wrinkles and roughness by up to 30 percent (2024, Coty).

This seems to affect people in their 20s just as much as anyone else, unfortunately.

On the other hand, stress that comes with intense tension followed by real release seems to work the opposite way.

Think of people who work in hospitality, entertainment, or performance, anyone whose job involves being "on" in front of others.

After that kind of tension, when it's finally released, dopamine and endorphins get released too, and that's connected to more expressive faces and brighter eyes.

Not everyone needs to be on a stage, though.

Maybe falling for someone works the same way, that spark followed by relief.

But it doesn't have to be romantic.

Getting completely absorbed in work or a hobby might do the same thing.

...long ago, there were people who entered the forest each day to hunt, and now and then found themselves fighting a tiger just to make it home alive.

I have a feeling people who live something like that life, in whatever shape it takes today, don't really age the same way.