[Mild stress as a means to modulate aging: from fly to human?].

Hormesis is the phenomenon by which adaptive responses to low doses of otherwise harmful conditions improve the functional ability of organisms. Some mild stresses have beneficial effects on longevity, aging and resistance to strong stresses (heat or cold shocks, infection) in Drosophila flies. Studies on rodents are indeed scarce but mild stress seems to be effective in humans because, for instance, patients suffering from angina have a higher survival when confronted with a heart attack. A few studies, in less tragic situations however, suggest that mild stress could have positive effects in elderly people. Performing more experiments on the effects of mild stress in humans would help to know whether it could be used in therapy or to improve healthspan of elderly.