Mental illness is associated with accelerated ageing, namely with shorter life span and ageing-related diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular problems, with worse effects observed in men than women (the average lifespan for men having suffered from mental illness is 10 years shorter than for peers without those issues, for women the difference is seven years).

However, despite the knowledge that mental illness accelerates ageing, it was unclear why this was the case. New research seems to give some biological hints to address this question. If you want to read more about this study, check my last article at MappingIgnorance