Aged By Stress

Ringo

Ringo

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
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I noticed the other day how weathered President Obama was looking and wondered how much of a toll the stress of office had taken on his health. This got me thinking about Prime Ministers/Presidents before and after they have served their terms and how much the weight of their decisions must effect them.

Here are a few links. It would seem that stress and making decisions does take it toll rather quickly.

Slideshow by The Telegraph: How leaders age in office

American Presidents Before and after office

As a small boy, I had very dark almost black hair but I got my first grey hair when I was 10 and by 13 had enough for people to comment on it. By 18, I would say that I was 25% grey and by 25 almost 50%. Now I am mid thirties and have 90% white hair. I'm not sure how much stress played a factor but my parents spilt up when I was 10 which had a a huge impact on my life.

I wonder if other stressful jobs have people ageing more quickly?
 
It's a good point. I have noticed that various UK and US leaders have aged very fast once in office.
But, I'm wondering if hair dye has a role in this?
Obama, I'm fairly sure, dyed his hair in order to help him get elected. Once in office, he gave up with it.
I think Blair did the same thing. Look how much he aged by the time he left office.
 
Have you noticed how UK leaders put on weight mid way through their rule.

Obama looks tired and in dire need of a holiday, politics aside I hope he does get some time to relax.
 
It's something I've noticed and commented on many moons ago on these boards. Blair was my example.

Personally I've only just started within the last five years to grey up particularly when it grows out in curls. I wonder if that's because I'm not married, have no kids and because I live alone...can do what I want.

I'm sitting here in my miniature nun's outfit...not exactly stress free...but generally safe and content.

Also I'm drinking a small one afore bed so....is it possible these new leaders once elected have weekly hour long sessions where the Truth is revealed bit by bit. Week 1: UFOs, Week 2: Atlantis, Week 3: The Illuminati etc....Week by week the hair turning whiter and whiter...the lines in the face grow deeper as the rabbit hole grows deeper...and deeper.... and deeper...you get my point.
 
Someone I worked with had a horrid time in her job role and it began to show grey hair, aged face etc. Yet when she joined my team that included a totally different job role - she began to sleep better. Within months she looked and felt her age again. The grey hair issue also corrected itself to some degree too.

Moooks, marriage, kids, work and bills can equal the opposite of what you currently have. The grass isnt always greener
 
I have work and bills. I don't have marriage and kids.

Grass is always greener George...until you get there.
 
Yep good points Moooks.

Why not become a Monk (instead of Nun) and escape the rat race for awhile :)
 
Having looked at your first link Ringo I'm dubious as Yeltsin doesn't change, no change, he looks Challenger 8 identical !!

There's other links on that site. I was looking at 86 viral images from 2014 that were totally fake.
And before you reach for the contempt for the use of the word "totally" it could have been worse, could have been "amazeballs".

No. 82
The presidency certainly ages most people. But this photo from the HistoricalPics Twitter account isn't quite true. The photo on the left which purports to be from 2009 is actually from 2005. That means that the difference between the two pictures is closer to nine years, rather than five. I can tell you I look a lot different in photos from nine years ago, and I don't even run the country.
Click to expand...
 
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Leaders of this small world need to employ humour more.

laughter is the best medicine, and its true for this world can be a cruel parent.
 
Thatcher reportedly did with only 3 or 4 hours sleep a night and she ended up a demented wreck at the end*. It can't do you any good living like that, but there's no hard evidence of a link between lack of sleep and dementia. Harold Wilson also developed it if I remember correctly. It would be interesting to know if the incidence of dementia in leaders is statistically above average.

Looks-wise I can only think of Blair who aged terribly, but that might have been just genetic rather than environmental. I can't think of any other leaders who have aged so poorly.

*OK in some people's opinion she may have been demented while in office, but that's another matter.
 
Blair, Bush and Obama were the specific ones I had in mind but the links I provided were a bit broader than that. Your right, Mooks. Yeltsin doesn't seem to have aged at all. I suspect some secret Russian genetic manipulation experiments. Or maybe all that vodka worked as a preservative. o_O

New angle: It's understandable that the pressure of leading takes it's toll but maybe more so when dealing with huge crises in the media spotlight. Maybe leaders have an easier ride in countries which have more control over the media?
 
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I find that being aged is stressful. And if that ages me even more....

Hmm, this isn't going to end well, is it?
 
Ringo said:
Blair, Bush and Obama were the specific ones I had in mind but the links I provided were a bit broader than that. Your right, Mooks. Yeltsin doesn't seem to have aged at all. I suspect some secret Russian genetic manipulation experiments. Or maybe all that vodka worked as a preservative. o_O

New angle: It's understandable that the pressure of leading takes it's toll but maybe more so when dealing with huge crises in the media spotlight. Maybe leaders have an easier ride in countries which have more control over the media?
Click to expand...
Yeltsin hasn't aged recently because he's dead. :D
I think he didn't seem to age when he was in power because he already looked old. His skin couldn't sag any more.
 
Well, stress is known to affect the immune system ( e.g. Kielcot-Glaser ), (Holmes and Rahe) - so as an extension of this it would perhaps also age you more quickly.
 
Birthing off-spring and watching them grow must be a constant observation of the passing years.

Something I've never really experienced...so in a way I never grew up.

Quell 'surprise
 
My stepfather seemed to age perhaps 10 or 15 years in less than one during/after his divorce. A little of that was that he stopped dying his hair, but also it didn't just go totally white but thinned out to the point it was just a bit of fluff. He hadn't treated himself particularly well so maybe it just all caught up to him then, he was in his mid 40s and could have passed for 60.

He also had a fall during that period and fractured his hip, which I'm told never healed properly.
 
That little fellow - Putin, he doesnt look affected by stress. In fact I wouldnt be surprised if botox and plastic surgery have been used to tidy up his chevy chase.
 
Or a clone but I have to praise him on his second wife. Go on me old son!
 
It must be something in the Russian firewater.
 
I went bald in my mid 30's, friends said it was because of all the stress my mad family had caused me, but i pointed out my grandad had a full head of hair when he was in his 70's, and he had been in the battle of the atlantic and the russian convoys, i think they may have been just a touch more stressful then my family.
 
My face has aged at least 20 years in the eleven years between my marriage to my 2nd husband in 2003 and our divorce becoming final last September. Before 2003 I always looked.young for my age. About 5 years in, that all started to change. Today I am regularly mistaken for 10-15 years older than I actually am.
 
gatesofcerdes said:
My face has aged at least 20 years in the eleven years between my marriage to my 2nd husband in 2003 and our divorce becoming final last September. Before 2003 I always looked.young for my age. About 5 years in, that all started to change. Today I am regularly mistaken for 10-15 years older than I actually am.
Click to expand...

I hear you. Rapid aging is a frequent complaint on another forum I visit, that deals with difficult marriage and families. I've aged horribly since taking charge of my elderly and extremely difficult mother.

On the upside, those who have come through this say that it gets better once you're out of the situation. So having been divorced not too long ago, you should be bouncing back before long.
 
I can't comment on ageing by stress, but I can attest to ageing by cigarettes. I was away from my home town for six years or so before returning for a visit. There were two lads I knew quite well from my former local - both five years my junior and heavy smokers. I was quite shocked when next I saw them: they both looked near ten years older than me with unhealthy pallor, thinning hair and appalling teeth. I'd not been doing anything especially athletic in the intervening period to stave off the years and I'm convinced it was a combination of the booze and fags that had aged them so markedly.
 
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I lost my hair in my 20s, thanks to the genetic heritage from my maternal grandfather, but I'm mid 40s now and am really feeling the sag, particularly in my eyes. They just sting from morning to night these days, and the brightness that helped me hook my wife is now rather dimmed. So many factors impact on the pace of the ageing process. Diet, stress, quality of rest, activity and even the style of breathing can affect our wellbeing. I have a little program I've been trying to get off the ground for the past twelve months, and it has had a positive impact already. I call it the 92 project; the goal - aiming to live until 92. Up until recently I let the stress of work and family get the better of me ... starting to recover now.

Age doesn't scare me. I quite like strolling slowly through the CBD while the rat race forges on around me. It's nice.
 
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