You really CAN age overnight! Factors that can rapidly accelerate physical and ...

The idea of ‘ageing’ overnight after a traumatic event sounds like a figure of speech — it was famously expressed in relation to Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France. 

Her hair allegedly went white the night before she was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution, aged 38.

Yet research has now shown that going white overnight and other forms of rapid ageing are a biological fact.

A U.S. study found that new mothers who had less than seven hours’ sleep a night in their baby’s first six months were biologically three to seven years older than those who had seven or more hours’ rest, as reported in the journal Sleep Health last month.

The researchers, from the University of California, Los Angeles, looked at 33 new mothers aged 23 to 45, measuring the length of their telomeres. These are DNA structures found at the end of chromosomes that are seen as a marker for biological ageing (more on this later).

It’s not known whether these effects are long-lasting in women, but this latest finding adds to a body of research that shows ageing can speed up, sometimes dramatically.

Some of the factors behind ageing (essentially, gradual damage to the cells) are the familiar culprits — smoking, drinking excessively, being overweight and inactive — which account for about 9.2 per cent of ageing. Adverse life events, such as unemployment, loss of a child or being diagnosed with a terminal illness accounted for another 9 per cent, according to a study of 2,339 adults aged 50 and over by Yale University in the U.S., published in 2019.

The researchers determined biological age — a reflection of what is going on at a cellular level — by measuring a range of markers in the blood including white blood cells, which are part of the immune system. Normally, immune function falls with age — how well it is working is one indicator of biological age.

Genes played the most important determining role, the scientists found.

However, while Peter Joshi, a geneticist and Chancellor’s fellow at the University of Edinburgh, agrees that genes play a role, he says lifestyle and life events can be far more influential.

‘Anyone who has been to a school reunion from the age of 40 onwards will know that we all age at a different rate — whether it be facial wrinkles, body shape, the degree of hair loss or greying of hair,’ he says.

We asked leading experts about the factors that can speed up ageing, whether over a relatively short space of time or longer-term changes — and tips on how to counter the effects.

This is what they told us.... 

Why hair goes white with shock 

A gradual greying of the hair — due to a loss of the pigment melanin that provides its colour — is a common sign of ageing.

But for some, especially those who have experienced shocks or traumatic life events, the process is anything but gradual — a condition known to dermatologists as Marie Antoinette syndrome.

It is, however, rare (and takes more time than just overnight), but thanks to a study published in the journal Nature in 2020 we have a clearer idea of its cause.

In a study of mice, a team at Harvard University in the U.S. found that stressful situations activate nerves that form part of the ‘fight or flight’ response in the section of the nervous system responsible for controlling the body’s automatic functions.

This causes permanent damage to melanocyte stem cells in hair follicles, which play a key part in the production of the melanin pigment.

The chemical noradrenaline, which is released by nerves when someone is under extreme stress, permanently harms the reservoir of melanocyte stem cells.

But in another recent study, scientists at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in the U.S. found that while stress does turn hair grey, reducing stress could reverse the process.

Meanwhile, in some cases, premature greying of hair in younger people is thought to be determined by genes. It may also be due to vitamin deficiencies (which can be reversed).

A 2015 study published in the journal Development by researchers at the University of Edinburgh’s MRC Human Genetics Unit found vitamin D3, B12 and copper deficiencies may contribute to grey hair and can be reversed with supplements. 

Surgery could speed up decline 

Surgery and anaesthetic can, in some cases, speed up the ageing process and have a ‘catastrophic effect on the brain’, says Chris Fox, a professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Exeter, who is carrying out research into this.

‘Most people who have surgery or anaesthesia won’t have any long-term cognitive effects from it, but there are some who seem to be affected — some older patients will go in with mild cognitive problems and come out with dementia.

‘Dementia is a sign of brain ageing, so the theory is that the surgery may contribute to speeding up the brain-ageing process,’ he adds.

Professor Fox says this potential risk of anaesthesia is greater if you’re in intensive care. It doesn’t happen to everyone, but the longer you are in intensive care the more noticeable the long-term cognitive problems.

This may be explained by the ‘vulnerable brain hypothesis’ — where certain patients are more prone to the effects of surgery or anaesthetic.

This is either because they have a medical condition such as diabetes or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or the blood-brain barrier, which normally protects the brain from circulating toxins, is leaking. ‘That means their brains get flooded with inflammation and medicines including anaesthetics,’ he says.

He points to evidence in animal studies to back the vulnerable brain theory.

His team are analysing older patients in the UK and Norway who have had surgery for a broken leg, some of whom have pre-existing dementia and some who don’t, in a bid to understand whether surgery can have a long-lasting effect on the brain.

If a pattern emerges in humans, doctors could use this to devise pre-surgery treatments — such as drugs or a diet high in antioxidants — to minimise the effects.

A paper published last month in the

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