Effects of Stress Coping Mechanisms on Telomere length: A literature review.

Studies of telomeres in humans are inconsistently related to exposure to stressors but strongly related to cell life cycle and cell senescence. Cell level stressors are related to reductions in telomere length as well as some social stressors showing moderate associations with telomere length. However, very little data has been produced in the arena of stress reducing coping mechanisms and their effects on telomere length. No systematic review of these coping mechanism effects on stress has been previously published. The goal of this review is to collect, assess, and review the English language human studies dealing with stress coping mechanisms and telomere length.