A new study suggests that renting is so stressful that it causes faster biological aging than owning a home.
In fact, stress is so severe that its effect on biological age is nearly twice that of unemployment and 50% greater than that of former smokers, According to a study British and Australian researchers published on Tuesday British Medical Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Studies show that repeated inability to pay rent and exposure to pollution or other environmental hazards in rental properties can also lead to faster biological aging.
Amy Clair, a researcher at the Australian Center for Housing Research and lead researcher on the study, said that while not often scrutinized or highlighted, the findings “demonstrated the importance of housing to health and having safe and affordable The importance of where you live,” told wealth.
She added that the relationship between renting and faster biological aging “should be an important concern for policymakers” because faster biological aging is associated with poorer health, chronic disease and increased risk of death.
“Housing conditions may ‘run deep’ and have real and significant effects on health,” the authors write.
How housing affects health
We’re all familiar with chronological age, or the number of candles on a cake. One could say that biological age refers to the age of our cells, although the explanation is somewhat simplified. This metric refers to how quickly you age and can vary significantly from your age.
The researchers used data from the British Household Longitudinal Study, as well as additional health information and blood samples from nearly 1,500 participants. Blood samples provide information on biomarkers associated with aging.
While the researchers found that renting accelerated biological aging, there was one exception: Those who received government-subsidized rent did not experience faster biological aging than homeowners who had paid off their homes.
The biological age of study participants is only determined at one point in time. Further studies are planned to follow participants over time, track changes in their housing status and test biological age again.
The authors point out that the biological aging data obtained through blood tests were only collected from white European individuals, which is a weakness of the study. A further caveat: housing conditions may affect other aspects of health beyond the epigenome. Previous housing conditions may have lasting effects on the epigenome, even after a single move.
“Increasing support for housing costs and limiting housing cost increases may protect people from housing delinquency and its health consequences,” they wrote.
But there is good news, the authors add. Because biological aging is reversible, “changes in housing policy can improve health.”
Why is renting so stressful?
Potential stress factors associated with renting cited in the study include possible lack of heating, location, overcrowding, stigma and the hassle of moving.
And there’s a price. Zillow senior economist Jeff Tucker said rent levels in the U.S. reached new highs last year The company stated in its 2022 report About renting.
The report found that typical market rents in the United States last year were close to 60% of the median annual household income.
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