Time of our lives is measured by telomeres - terminal fragments of chromosomes, which do not bear any material information, but protects the genes underlying them from damage during cell division. Each division of the telomeres become shorter, but on their length is influenced by many factors - such as stress. Stress without any dividing shorter telomeres, which means that the cell will be able to separate smaller number of times - and the body will eventually die earlier.

Communication between telomere length and stress devoted a lot of research. However, psychologists from the University of California in San Francisco (USA) approached the problem from an unexpected side. They tried to verify whether to depend on each other attention span (the tendency head in the clouds) and telomere length. Here, perhaps, it is worth emphasizing that it is not so much about ordinary dreams, how about the inability to focus at the current moment on the task at hand, when any thought to distract from its implementation. This otvlekaemost is a sign of psychological discomfort, so it is quite understandable logic of scientists, who decided to "measure" the wool-gathering telomere length.

The study involved 239 healthy women aged 50 to 65 years. All with good education and equally low current stress. Subjects underwent through a series of psychological tests; in addition, they were asked to evaluate their own tendency to be distracted from the current tasks on extraneous thoughts. After they measured the length of telomeres, it turned out that the tendency towards strangers thoughts correlates with shortened chromosomal ends (telomeres were measured in immune cells). Even under prolonged stress, the ability to concentrate on the current moment "cared" about telomeres: they stayed longer, than at those who could not concentrate. The results of the experiments published in the journal of Clinical Psychological Science.

In other words, if you do during the working day start thinking about the Arab-Israeli conflict, or about the global crisis, or, for example, that it would be good in a month to go to the dentist, then you run the risk of staying less than perhaps expected. Researchers believe that the tendency to be distracted fraught supplanted by stress: the person does not solve the problem, but tries to ignore them, while problems still gradually introduce it into depression. However, the authors admit that they see only the coincidence of two parameters, psychological and molecular, however, to say which one is the cause and a consequence, while it is impossible. Besides, we can not reject the possibility that the inability to focus and shortened telomeres are only symptoms that accompany certain third factor.

There is, however, not to mention other data that, it turns out that the psychological exercises and meditation aimed at increasing concentration in the focus of attention at the current moment, in General on the ability to "live in the present" improve both mental and physical health. There is even information about what kind of exercises activate the enzyme telomerase, lengthening of the telomeres. In General, it is possible that we are dealing here with this feedback between psychology and biochemistry, when the right mental attitude helps to maintain order in molecular cell kitchen.

Based on the materials of the University of California in San Francisco.