Depression is a serious mental illness that can lead to many problems such as memory loss or sleep problems. Now, according to a new research, depression can also cause the brain to age physically faster.

A new research by Yale University has discovered that depression can physically change a person’s brain, speed up aging and can probably leave them more vulnerable to illness linked to old age.

Lead researcher Irina Esterlis based the study on a new kind of brain-imaging technology that provides physicians better insights into what is going on inside one’s skull. Esterlis studied brains of 20 people, 10 of who were diagnosed with clinical depression and 10 who were healthy.

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After assessment, Esterlis discovered that the brains of those with more severe symptoms of depressions showed lower synaptic density. As explained by Quartz, synaptic density is essential since synapses are essentially tiny bridges that nerve cells rely on to pass their impulses from one cell to the next.

Loss of synapses is generally common in people between 74 and 90 years of age and linked to neurological disorders. The study concluded that the common byproduct of aging was evident in people suffering from depression.

Moreover, depression has been termed to be a serious mental illness with many researchers even working on drugs to reverse memory loss caused by depression and aging.