So Elissa designed this study where we looked at two groups of mothers. One had normal, healthy children. The other group had a child with a chronic illness. Physiological and psychological measurements were done on everyone. With the stressed group, we found that the longer the mothers had been caring for their chronically ill child, the less their telomerase and the shorter their telomeres.

This was the first time you could clearly see cause and effect from a nongenetic influence. Genes play a role in telomerase levels, but this was not genes. This was something impacting the body that came from the outside and affecting its ability to repair itself. By the way, we found similar effects in women who were primary caregivers for partners with dementia.

Q. Is this scientific proof of the mind-body connection?

A. It’s a proof. There have been others. Researchers have found that the brain definitely sends nerves directly to organs of the immune system and not just to the heart and the lower gut. In that way, too, the brain is influencing the body.

Image Stress can have effects similar to aging in redcing an enzyme that keeps chromosome tips in shape. Credit... Thor Swift for The New York Times

One of the things that came out of our study of these mothers is a link between low telomerase and stress-related diseases. We looked at the measures for cardiovascular disease — bad lipid profiles, obesity, all that stuff. The women with those had low telomerase.

We also looked at low telomeres and cancer. We wondered if a cell with worn down chromosome tips might divide in some abnormal way. Our findings have yet to be published, so I can’t tell you much here, but we think we’re onto something.

Q. Is your goal to find a drug to repair the telomeres?

A. Or an intervention. We know that stress is bad for cells. What about alleviating it? We’ve been collaborating on studies looking at the telomerase levels in people who practice meditation. We are looking at whether or not telomerase changes after a three-month program of meditation. We’ll know more soon.