Many people are familiar with such situations: a meeting with a certain friend ends in exhaustion. The neighbor appears permanently hostile. The colleague constantly causes frustration. Such encounters feel toxic. New research now suggests that this feeling is more than a subjective perception.

One study from New York University shows that such stressful relationships accelerate the biological aging process by around 1.5 percent. This corresponds to an average of around nine months of shortened lifespan. Difficult social relationships can not only be psychologically stressful, but can also have measurable physical consequences and actually cause the body to age faster.

Survey and DNA analysis

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from more than 2,000 adults from the US state of Indiana. The participants took part in a six-month health survey.

Stress accelerates cell aging

The analysis shows a clear connection. People who regularly interact with so-called “haters” showed faster biological aging. According to the researchers, the reason lies in stress. Negative social interactions activate the so-called hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the body. This causes increased levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline to be released.

Every troublemaker increases the effect

The researchers also found a cumulative effect. Each additional stressful person increased the aging rate, the study authors write precisely: “Over a period of ten years, this faster aging rate leads to approximately 1.8 months longer biological aging in people with an additional stress factor.” Study participants with several troublemakers in their contact list also rated their own physical and mental health as significantly worse.

The data also suggests that women react more strongly to stressful social relationships than men. Smokers and people who have already had health problems or negative experiences in childhood are particularly susceptible.

Problems often come from families

What is striking is where these stressful contacts come from. Those surveyed most often mentioned family members, especially parents or children. Within the family, however, people find it particularly difficult to distance themselves from troublemakers:

“Their familiarity often leads people to view and tolerate them as normal, which has led to surprisingly little attention being paid to their long-term health effects.”

One exception emerged in the analysis. When one’s spouse was described as stressful, there was no measurable influence on biological age. The researchers suspect that partnerships can also offer support. These positive effects could partially offset the negative consequences of individual conflicts. According to the survey, other social contacts that are perceived as toxic arise in everyday life, for example in shared apartments, in the neighborhood or at work.

“Dark side of social relationships”

The researchers interpret their study results as an indication of the possible strong negative influence of social contacts on health: “This study shows that the ‘dark side’ of social relationships can weaken physiological resilience and accelerate the aging process and the development of multiple diseases.”

Stressful contacts would therefore weaken the body’s physiological resistance. In the long term, they could accelerate the aging process and increase the risk of several diseases.