How suffering depression can speed up the ageing process: Cells in people who suffer from the condition are biologically older.

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Dutch researchers compared cell structures called telomeres in more than 2,400 people with and without depression (posed)

Suffering from depression can dramatically speed up the ageing process in cells, research has found.
Tests revealed that cells appeared biologically older in people who were severely depressed or who had suffered from the condition in the past.
Dutch researchers compared cell structures called telomeres in more than 2,400 people with and without depression.
Telomeres bracket the ends of chromosomes to protect cell's DNA being damaged, but they are shortened when cells divide and can indicate ageing.
On average people naturally lose between 14 to 20 base pairs of DNA in the telomeres each year, Everyday Health reported.
Telomeres of people who had ever suffered depression were significantly shorter by about 83 to 84 base pairs of DNA, than those of people who had never suffered from the condition.
Scientists said the difference indicates approximately four to six years of advanced ageing.
The differences in a measure of cell ageing called telomere length couldn't be explained by other harmful lifestyle factors, such as alcohol or smoking, the BBC reported.

The differences in a measure of cell ageing called telomere length couldn't be explained by other harmful lifestyle factors

Study author Josine Verhoeven from the VU University Medical Centre, in the Netherlands, and U.S. colleagues, found that the most severely and chronically depressed patients had the shortest telomeres.
The results were published in Molecular Psychiatry.

The findings come after a new study has shown that not only can light activity treat depression, it can actually prevent it.
Researchers looking at 26-years' worth of data have shown that people who exercise when they're young are less likely to become depressed as they get older.
The project, which analysed data from 30 previous studies, found that in 25 of them there was a link between lack of activity and being diagnosed with depression in later life.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, recommends around 20-30 minutes of light activity, such as walking or gardening, every day.

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