Low Psychological Resilience in Older Individuals: An Association with Increased Inflammation, Oxidative Stress and the Presence of Chronic Medical Conditions

Abstract

The term resilience, which has been present in science for almost half a century, stands for the capacity of some system needed to overcome an amount of disturbance from the environment in order to avoid a change to another stable state. In medicine, the concept of resilience means the ability to deal with daily stress and disturbance to our homeostasis with the intention of protecting it from disturbance. With aging, the organism becomes more sensitive to environmental impacts and more susceptible to changes. Mental disturbances and a decline in psychological resilience in older people are potentiated with many social and environmental factors along with a subjective perception of decreasing health. Distinct from findings in younger age groups, mental and physical medical conditions in older people are closely associated with each other, sharing common mechanisms and potentiating each other's development. Increased inflammation and oxidative stress have been recognized as the main driving mechanisms in the development of aging diseases. This paper aims to reveal, through a translational approach, physiological and molecular mechanisms of emotional distress and low psychological resilience in older individuals as driving mechanisms for the accelerated development of chronic aging diseases, and to systematize the available information sources on strategies for mitigation of low resilience in order to prevent chronic diseases.

Keywords: aging; chronic diseases; inflammation; oxidative stress; psychological resilience.

Figure 1

The intersection between psychological and biological resilience in older individuals.

Figure 2

Pathophysiological complexity and mechanism of stress vulnerability. Abbreviations; IL-1β—interleukin-1-β; IL-6—interleukin 6; TNF-α- tumor necrosis factor alpha; HPA—hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis; ANS—autonomic nervous system; CVD—cardiovascular diseases.

Figure 3

Complex understanding of the mechanism of damage caused by oxidative stress.

Figure 4

Multifactorial nature of neuroendocrine response in the onset and development of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. Abbreviations; ACTH—adrenocorticotropin; CRP—C reactive protein; IL-1—interleukin 1; IL-6—interleukin 6; LDL—low-density lipoprotein; RAAS—renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system; TC—total cholesterol; TNF-α—tumour necrosis factor α; VLDL—very-low-density lipoprotein.