Longevity Psychiatry: How Mental Health Impacts Lifespan and Brain Health
Mental health can have a significant impact on life expectancy, with high life satisfaction adding up to ten years to life and serious conditions reducing life expectancy by up to 20.[1],[2]
Longevity psychiatrists are dedicated to exploring this connection and have identified many behavioral and social factors that can shorten and lengthen someone’s life expectancy. This field has many crossovers with lifestyle psychiatry, which also emphasizes behavioral and social approaches to improving health.
If you’re curious about the longevity psychiatry mental health benefits, this page will explore how these interventions work, explaining how each can impact both mental health and brain health generally. It discusses:
- How mental health can shorten and lengthen life expectancy
- The difference between longevity and lifestyle psychiatry
- Key lifestyle interventions for mental and cognitive health, and the evidence that supports them
Mental Health and Life Expectancy
Mental and physical health often tend to be looked at separately, but the evidence suggests this shouldn’t be the case. For example, new research suggests that some mental health conditions reduce life expectancy more than heavy smoking.[3]
Researchers at the University of Oxford reviewed studies into mental health and mortality risk and identified the following average reduction in life expectancy based on specific disorders:[3]
- Recurrent depression: 7-11 years
- Bipolar disorder: 9-10 years
- Schizophrenia: 10-20 years
- Drug and alcohol disorders: 9-24 years
Meanwhile, heavy smokers lose on average 8-10 years from their life expectancy.[3] Additionally, stress and relationship stress are associated with slower wound healing and immune function generally.
There are many reasons why mental health conditions can have such an impact on lifespan. People with serious mental illnesses are at greater risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, suicide, and drug and alcohol abuse. Furthermore, stigma may lead doctors to not treat them as well for physical health problems.[3]
The research above may feel alarming and might make you wonder whether lifespan is impacted by things like anxiety, chronic stress, and general poor mental health, as well as psychiatric diagnoses. However, the following research findings demonstrate how general mental wellness and longevity can also be positively linked:[4]
- Though physical health can be affected by negative emotions, positive emotions can undo these impacts
- The tendency to experience positive emotions is associated with greater resistance to developing a common cold
- Higher subjective well-being and life satisfaction can add 4-10 years to life
These facts highlight how mental health and general day-to-day life satisfaction can have a big role in determining life expectancy and physical health outcomes. We’ll now explore the scientific fields interested in this connection.
Approaches to Well-Being and Life Expectancy
In your research about how mental health impacts lifespan and brain health, you will likely come across two main fields: longevity psychiatry and lifestyle psychiatry.
We explore each of these in more detail below.
What Is Longevity Psychiatry?
Unfortunately, there is strong evidence that people with serious mental illness are at risk of a shorter lifespan. Therefore, longevity psychiatry is the field of mental health that is interested in brain health and extended life expectancy.[5]
Experts are finding ways to increase life expectancy in people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, such as by reducing smoking and increasing daily activity levels. This is because many of the physical illnesses that people with mental health conditions deal with can be linked to social isolation, so increasing connection is a primary focus for longevity psychiatrists.[6]
What Is Lifestyle Psychiatry?
Though similar, lifestyle psychiatry is a different area of the mental health field from longevity psychiatry. They’re similar in that they both look at the behavioral, social, and lifestyle factors that affect well-being, but lifestyle psychiatry doesn’t have a big emphasis on increasing life expectancy.
The main emphasis of lifestyle psychiatry is on using lifestyle interventions instead of medical ones. Under the overarching umbrella of brain health, lifestyle psychiatry aims to improve mental and cognitive health, well-being, and quality of life.[7]
While traditional, lifestyle, and longevity psychiatry fields are informed by the neurobiology of mental health, the latter approaches emphasize lifestyle interventions. Research shows that these interventions can be highly effective because, in general, they address inflammation, which is a common factor in chronic physical, mental, and cognitive illnesses.[7]
Common lifestyle interventions include:
- Nutrition and gut health
- Exercise
- Meditation
- Sauna-bathing
- Cold water immersion
Lifestyle psychiatry is also interested in the internal processes that impact well-being, such as emotional regulation, personality traits, and internalized trauma.[7]
How You Can Use Lifestyle and Longevity Science to Improve Well-Being
Before we explore lifestyle interventions and their supporting evidence, remember to always talk to your doctor before making drastic changes to your mental health treatment. None of the following practices should replace medication or psychotherapy without professional consideration.
Exercise
Physical health plays an essential role in brain health, mental health, and aging. Experts suggest adults should exercise for 40 minutes three times a week for significant cognitive benefits.[8]
Weekly exercise should be a mixture of aerobic (such as cycling or running) and anaerobic (like weightlifting) activities because each provides different brain benefits. Both increase the density of neural connections in different parts of the brain; while aerobic activity supports memory and executive function, anaerobic exercise supports information processing.[8]
Therefore, adults seeking support for neurodegeneration should know that aerobic exercise is particularly effective. Research finds that it can improve memory, reduce brain atrophy, and increase cognitive control in people with both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.[8]
As well as brain aging, there are emotional and mental health benefits to regular exercise. Aerobic exercise causes a big release of serotonin and dopamine, which are essential for stress reduction and mood regulation. Therefore, it is protective against feelings of depression and highly anxious responses to stress.[8]
Social Stimulation
Loneliness, small social networks, and infrequent social interactions are significant (but reversible) risk factors for both cognitive decline and poor mental health.[9]
Living with people, being married, and weekly interactions with family or community groups are associated with slower memory decline.7 So much so that tackling social isolation could prevent 4% of worldwide dementia cases.[9]
Additionally, research finds that people with depression can reduce their risk of relapse by 24% by joining one social group and by 63% by joining three.[10]
It’s for this reason that social stimulation is a pillar of lifestyle medicine and is crucial for mental health. Human beings are wired to connect with each other, so socializing has a powerful effect on mood and psychological health.
Emotional Regulation
When someone is emotionally dysregulated, they’re more likely to experience euphoria (mania) and anhedonia (lack of pleasure), which are common symptoms of psychiatric disorders.[7]
Developmental psychologists suggest that mental health conditions arise partly due to how one is taught to regulate their emotions in childhood. When this isn’t nurtured in childhood, children are more likely to develop difficulties with their mental health, particularly if they’re also exposed to adverse experiences.[11]
Therefore, learning to regulate your emotions can be a powerful way to improve your well-being and mental health overall.
Lifestyle psychiatrists recommend identifying emotions, reframing and understanding them, and finding healthy ways of expressing them. For example, suppressing and numbing emotions are unsustainable ways of managing feelings as they’re associated with reduced mental health quality, alcohol misuse, and reduced relationship satisfaction.[7]
Many types of counseling and psychotherapy can support emotional regulation, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, and somatic therapy.
Sauna-Bathing
Saunas are proven to change brain activity, inducing states of relaxation and cognitive focus. Not only is regular sauna use associated with reducing the risk of multiple physical health problems, but it might also reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases, psychosis, and depression.[12]
As a result, sauna-bathing could be a viable form of brain and mental health preventive care.
Cold Water Immersion
Cold plunging and wild swimming are popular wellness activities for physical and mental health benefits alike. This is due to the way our bodies respond to cold water immersion: it triggers the release of stress hormones and endorphins, which elevate mood, promote good sleep, and increase resilience to stress.[13]
So, due to its promotion of mental well-being and healthy aging, cold water immersion could be a long-term brain health strategy for those wanting to develop effective habits.[13]
Sunlight Therapy
Another common pillar of lifestyle and longevity psychiatry approaches is the power of sunlight for our brains and bodies. Not only does sunlight help with blood pressure and heart health, but it also plays an essential role in regulating sleep and mood.[14]
In fact, multiple studies support the idea that regular sunlight exposure can inhibit and treat depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD).[15]
Nutrition
Nutrition is another key area in both longevity and lifestyle psychiatry, with many claims for different diets supporting healthy aging and mental health.
For example, the Mediterranean diet is characterized by a great deal of homemade food, fruits and vegetables, legumes, unrefined cereals, and olive oil. Dairy, meat, and alcohol are consumed, but in small amounts. Therefore, the Mediterranean diet has emerged as one of the healthiest diets, promoted worldwide by nutritional experts.[16]
In fact, research finds that those who adhere strongly to a Mediterranean diet have a 72% lower risk of developing dementia and experiencing cognitive decline.[16] Furthermore, the Mediterranean diet may improve symptoms of depression due to the higher amount of polyphenols (micronutrients found abundantly in plant foods).[16]
Biohacking
Biohacking is the field of health and lifestyle improvement that emphasizes using knowledge of biology to inform wellness activities and health monitoring. So people are often drawn to the field of biohacking to improve their health and extend their life expectancy.[17] Also known as “DIY biology,” biohacking can encompass all of the lifestyle interventions listed in this article so far.
However, biohacking can become extreme, with some people performing innovative body modifications in the name of self-improvement. But it doesn’t have to go so far. Anyone interested in improving mental health, well-being, and cognitive decline prevention can engage in biohacking.[17]
For example, following scientifically supported nutritional plans and engaging in both sauna-bathing and cold plunging are common biohacking practices.
Mission Connection: Mental Health Support for Aging Brains
At Mission Connection, we treat people with a wide range of mental health conditions and pride ourselves on providing personalized treatment plans. For those who are worried about cognitive health and lifespan, we can integrate psychiatry and longevity science into your treatment.
Reach out today to share your thoughts or ask any questions you like. Alternatively, you could take a self test or check out our facilities to get more information.
