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The Conversation
Negar Fani, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Emory University

Racism and discrimination lead to faster aging through brain network changes, new study finds

Discrimination in the form of microaggressions, slights and overt racism take a toll on the body, including neural activity in the brain. LeoPatrizi/E+ via Getty Images

Racism steals time from people’s lives – possibly because of the space it occupies in the mind. In a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, our team showed that the toll of racism on the brain was linked to advanced aging, observed on a cellular level.

Black women who were more frequently exposed to racism showed stronger connections in brain networks involved with rumination and vigilance. We found that this, in turn, was connected to accelerated biological aging.

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