What is Biological Age?
Biological age, often referred to as “biological aging” or “biological clock,” is a term used to describe the state of an individual’s body and its functioning in relation to their chronological age. While chronological age is simply the number of years a person has been alive, biological age takes into account various factors such as health, lifestyle, genetics, and environmental influences to determine how old a person’s body truly is. In other words, biological age is a measure of how well or poorly a person is aging, independent of their actual age in years.
Recent scientific research has shed light on the ways in which our biological age can be determined and how it can impact our overall health and well-being.
How is Biological Age Measured?
There are several ways to measure biological age, each with its own strengths and limitations. Some common methods include:
1. Epigenetic Clocks:
One common method used to calculate biological age from blood test results is the epigenetic clock. The epigenetic clock is a mathematical algorithm that analyzes DNA methylation patterns to predict a person’s biological age.
DNA methylation patterns refer to changes in the structure of DNA that can affect gene expression and contribute to aging. Studies have shown that the epigenetic clock is highly accurate in estimating biological age and can provide information about an individual’s risk of developing age-related conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease and cardiovascular disease.
What is DNA Methylation?
It’s common to think of DNA as something that’s fixed and unchanging, but that’s not accurate. You actually have many more genes than show up at any given time. Some are turned “on,” others are turned “off.”
When a gene is on, it’s being “expressed.” For example, say you have a gene that influences your immune system that’s been expressed since you were born. At some point in your life, you may be exposed to environmental pollution or an illness that switches that gene off.
After that, you may get sick a lot more often or be predisposed to certain chronic illnesses. Your immune system has changed at the genetic level.
The process that turns genes on or off is called methylation.
Looking at methylation rates, most of the tissue and cell samples studied, had the same chronological and biological ages. But some didn’t.
Researchers concluded that certain parts of the body age faster than others. For example, healthy breast tissue can be as much as three years older than the rest of your body. If it’s next to cancerous tissue, it’s an average of 12 years older.
Using the methylation-based method of determining biological age, researchers can determine the risk of breast cancer. If you have female breast tissue, every five years older you are biologically than chronologically, your breast cancer risk is 15% higher.
2.Telomere Length:
Telomeres are protective caps at the end of chromosomes that shorten as we age. Measuring telomere length can give an indication of biological age and overall health. Longer the length of telomere, shorter the biological age, a better indicative for health.
Each strand of DNA is made up of chromosomes, which carry your genetic information. They look like X’s (except for the one that determines male sex characteristics, which looks like a Y).
At the tip of each point of the X (or Y) is a small structure called a telomere. Scientists have discovered that telomeres get shorter with chronological age.
One study found that people with shorter telomeres were more likely to have:
- Chronic illness
- A neurodegenerative disorder
- An early death
In other words, if you have shorter telomeres than someone born the same time as you, you’re biologically older than them.
Another study suggests that maintaining (or adopting) a healthy lifestyle can actually reverse the aging process by lengthening telomeres.
3. Physical Fitness Tests:
Assessments of cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, flexibility, and balance can provide valuable information about how well your body is functioning relative to your chronological age.
4.Inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, are associated with chronic inflammation, which accelerates the aging process.
4. Blood Tests:
Biomarkers such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure, blood sugar, and inflammatory markers can help determine biological age and identify potential health risks.
5. Inflammatory markers
Another approach to determining biological age from blood test results is through the measurement of inflammatory markers. Inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, are associated with chronic inflammation, which accelerates the aging process. Chronic inflammation is a common feature of aging and is associated with a range of age-related diseases, including arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease. By measuring levels of inflammatory markers in the blood, healthcare providers can assess a person’s biological age and recommend interventions to reduce inflammation and promote healthy aging.
In addition to telomere length, inflammatory markers, and patterns, other factors in the blood can also impact biological age. For example, levels of antioxidants, hormones, and metabolic markers can influence the aging process and contribute to an individual’s biological age.
Factors That Determine Biological Age
If you want to lower your biological age, you have multiple options. And they’re generally the same options you’ve heard about for being healthy in general.
Diet
A 2018 study on nutrition and biological age suggests that eating a high-nutrient diet can lower your biological age.
Researchers looked at how much nutrition data people considered when deciding what foods to buy. The more attention paid, the lower the biological age. The difference was more significant in people who:
- Have chronic disease
- Have a family history of chronic disease
- Have obesity
- Are older
- Have a lower education level
They also found a sex-based difference when it came to choosing foods: just under 13% of males thought about nutrition data at the grocery store, compared to 27.5% of females.
Other studies on diet and biological age suggest the ideal diet is:
- Low in calories
- Plant-based
- High in fish
- A Mediterranean diet
Exercise
Research into biological aging has revealed a connection between higher activity levels and lower biological age.
Not all studies agree that increased exercise has an impact on biological age. However, a growing body of research supports the idea that it does.
- A 2021 study on post-menopausal women showed a slowdown in some biomarkers of age and disease, including cancer.
- A 2022 study showed that changing the diet and adding more exercise lowers your biological age more than either dietary changes or increased exercise alone.
- A 2020 study found that people trained with aerobic exercise were almost 5.5 years younger than people who were sedentary.
Stress
Physical and psychological stress both increase the biological age, but in a way that appears to be reversible.
A 2022 study monitored the effects of stressors such as:
- Pregnancy
- COVID-19 infection
- Trauma
- Surgery
They found a rapid increase in biological age (measured by DNA methylation) during the stressful time. However, it went back to baseline within a few days of the stressor being removed.
In a 2021 study on psychological stress and biological aging, researchers found that people who are emotionally resilient and able to regulate their emotions were able to avoid the aging effects of stress.
Smoking
Smoking has long been known to cause serious health problems and shorten your lifespan. Studies show that smoking increases your biological age.
As with stress, though, smoking-related age advancement appears to be reversible. When researchers compared current smokers, former smokers, and people who’ve never smoked, they found that the biological age of former smokers was the same as that of non-smokers.
Sleeping Habits
Poor sleep quality has a negative impact on your health and longevity, and it’s also been found to increase your biological age.
Adults should get at least seven hours of sleep every night.
If you’re able to get more and/or better sleep, you can reverse the biological aging it caused, according to researchers.
You may be able to improve your sleep duration or quality by making simple changes, such as going to bed earlier, turning off screens half an hour before bed, or reducing distractions in the bedroom.
Physical Environments
Your physical environment includes where you live, work, and spend significant amounts of time. Your environment determines the amount of air pollution and other contaminants or hazardous materials you’re exposed to.
Those toxins can speed up your biological aging. You may be able to take steps to avoid or reduce some of your exposure. Research suggests this could help reverse the effects.
How is It Different from Chronological Age?
Chronological age: This is the most basic measure of age and is simply the number of years you have been alive. It is the age that most people are familiar with and is typically used when filling out forms or identifying oneself in social settings. Chronological age is a fixed number that increases by one year every time your birthday comes around. It is not influenced by external factors and is solely based on the passage of time. While chronological age gives us a general idea of how old someone is, it does not provide any information about their physical, mental, or emotional well-being.
Biological Age: A Deeper Look On the other hand, biological age is a more complex concept that takes into account various factors related to a person’s health and overall functioning. It is essentially a reflection of how well your body is aging relative to your chronological age. It is influenced by a combination of genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors that can accelerate or decelerate the aging process. Unlike chronological age, it is not a fixed number and can change over time depending on how well you take care of your body. For example, someone who exercises regularly, eats a healthy diet, avoids smoking, and manages stress effectively may have a biological age that is younger than their chronological age. On the other hand, someone who leads a sedentary lifestyle, consumes a poor diet, smokes, and experiences chronic stress may have a biological age that is older than their chronological age.
https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-chronological-age-2223384
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