From good friends to toxic co-workers, our relations can affect our stress more than our jobs, finances, or even our diet. A new study suggests that who is around us can negatively affect our longevity. Scientists in the USA conducted a study on how the people around us can impact our stress. The researchers focused on the effect that people called "hasslers" had on us. A hassler is someone annoying who hassles us. Professor Brea Perry said, "having more hasslers is associated with accelerated biological aging…and how much wear and tear [people] have on their body".

Researchers questioned people about the hasslers in their lives. Dr Perry said around one third of the participants knew at least one hassler. She said about 10 per cent had at least two hasslers. Each additional hassler was linked with a 1.5 per cent faster pace of aging. Perry added: "It can actually take days for that stress response to drop and for your body to go back to normal." She highlighted the negative effects of accumulated stress from hasslers, saying: "When you experience that chronically, over and over again, it has this long-term effect on the body."