Religiosity and telomere length: One step forward, one step back

Absent Relations of Religious Coping to Telomere Length in African American and White Women and Men

OBJECTIVES

This study investigated whether race and sex moderated the relations of religious coping to telomere length (TL), a biomarker of cellular aging implicated in race-related health disparities.

METHODS

Participant data were drawn from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study, which included 252 socioeconomically diverse African American and White men and women aged (30-64 years old). Cross-sectional multivariable regression analyses examined interactive associations of religious coping, race, and sex to TL, adjusting for other sociodemographic characteristics.

RESULTS

Religious coping was unrelated to TL in this sample (p's > .05). There were no notable race or sex differences. Post hoc exploratory analyses similarly found that neither secular social support coping use nor substance use coping was associated with TL.

CONCLUSION

There was no evidence to support that religious coping use provided protective effects to TL in this sample of African American and White women and men. Nevertheless, future studies should use more comprehensive assessments of religious coping and intersectional identities to provide an in-depth examination of religiosity/spirituality as a potential culturally salient protective factor in cellular aging among African Americans in the context of specific chronic stressors such as discrimination.

Spiritual Fitness: A New Dimension in Alzheimer's Disease Prevention

BACKGROUND

Religious and spiritual interventions may have an effect on Alzheimer's disease prevention. Kirtan Kriya meditation has been shown to mitigate the deleterious effects of chronic stress on cognition, reverse memory loss, and create psychological and spiritual wellbeing, which may reduce multiple drivers of Alzheimer's disease risk.

OBJECTIVE

To detail a new concept in medicine called Spiritual Fitness, a merging of stress reduction, basic wellbeing, and psycho/spiritual wellbeing to prevent Alzheimer's disease.

METHODS

The literature on the topics mentioned above is described, including an in-depth discussion on why and how each are critical to advancing the future of Alzheimer's disease prevention. The many negative effects of chronic stress, and the benefits of Kirtan Kriya, are reviewed. The four pillars of basic wellbeing, six practical aspects of psychological wellbeing, and the four new non-sectarian features of spiritual fitness are then disclosed. Moreover, instructions on practicing Kirtan Kriya are offered in the Supplementary Material.

CONCLUSION

Religious and spiritual practices, including Kirtan Kriya, are crucial components in the development of enhanced cognition and well-being, which may help prevent and, in some cases, reverse cognitive decline. The key point of this review is that making a commitment to live a brain longevity lifestyle including spiritual fitness is a critically important way for aging Alzheimer's disease free. We hope that this article will inspire scientists, clinicians, and patients to embrace this new concept of spiritual fitness and make it a part of every multidomain program for the prevention of cognitive disability.

Women's greater late-life depression: Traumatic experiences or GxE?

OBJECTIVES

This study examined the role of traumatic life experiences, and their interaction with genetic risk, in explaining gender differences in late life depression.

METHODS

Data were from the 2008-through-2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, nationally representative of U.S. adults over age 50. Analysis was restricted to white participants. Newly available polygenic risk scores indexed genetic propensity for depression. Linear growth models examined gender effects on depression, as well as their mediation by environmental and genetic risk.

RESULTS

Across-person results suggested greater depression among older white women than men. No disparities were found in within-person change. Women also did not have more traumatic life experiences. Nor did the few factors they reported more than men influence depression, or mediate the gender difference in this outcome. The sole exception was childhood parental physical abuse. This early experience mediated about a quarter of the gender disparity-but only at mean or high genetic vulnerability. In contrast, adulthood traumas common among women interacted negatively with polygenic risk-such that they mediated the gender effect only at low levels of the latter.

DISCUSSION

Traumatic life experiences and their genetic interactions appear to have minimal utility in explaining women's greater depression-at least among white older adults. Careful work is needed on the extent to which these factors underlie other social disparities in mental health.

Religiosity, Well-Being and 'Slowing Down' Ageing Damage: A Literature Review

Telomere length (TL) represents an important marker of cellular aging. Its shortening affects human health and longevity by inducing senescence, apoptosis, and oncogenesis. Advanced ageing and negative behavioral and lifestyle factors decrease TL. The relationship between positive psycho-social factors and longer telomeres has given rise to a growing number of research efforts. Among these, religiosity poses a particular interest since it is associated with a wide range of favorable health outcomes. In this direction, recent literature reports, suggest a positive link between religiosity and TL. Underlying mechanisms for this association are not yet clarified.

In this review, we would like to summarize the current knowledge on the link between religiosity and TL. Taking this opportunity, we recall findings from a cohort study in rural Crete, Greece that adds evidence on the discussion of potential psycho-social mediators which some may prevent shortening of TL.