(CAPITOL CITY NOW) – If you feel older than you really are, it may not be your imagination.

One’s environment and emotional stressors can advance our biological age beyond our chronological age. “You can also age slower, if you’re lucky enough,” jokes Christina Kamis, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Her team’s research points to such factors as “air pollution, fewer medical resources – usually, doctors are further outside your neighborhood – you may have less access to greenspaces to exercise, or healthy foods to buy within your neighborhood.” It’s been said that in Chicago – and even in Springfield – just a few zip codes can separate healthy adults from unhealthy ones.

“One thing we can do structurally,” said Kamis, “is make mental health care more freely accessible and more geographically accessible. Having some resources that are local to a neighborhood that are community-driven – these are the kinds of things that research has shown actually do matter.”