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What if you could turn back the hands of time? Advertisements for everything from skin creams to supplements would like us all to believe that there are magic potion out there that can turn back the clock – you just have to pay all sorts of money for all sorts of gimmicks. Wouldn’t it be nice to find something that really worked?
Interestingly enough, you really can decrease your biological age. And no, it has nothing to do with tricks of the calendar or clock, and it doesn’t have to cost you a dime.
Understanding Chronological Age vs. Biological Age
Have you ever seen photographs of identical twins, side by side, in their golden years? They can look very different, even though they lived their entire lives with the same DNA makeup. For instance, if one twin smoked, you can probably tell that they look a bit older than the twin who didn’t. The same is true of sun damage – the one who worshipped the sun will look much older than the one who religiously wore sunscreen and stayed out of the rays.
Photographs of twins in their senior years prove that aging occurs at different rates due heavily to their lifestyle habits. Although there is no disputing that twins have the same chronological age, their biological age, however, is what changes. Biological age is the indicator of how our bodies are aging. Certain lifestyle factors can affect how well our cells reproduce, how quickly our bodies bounce back from illness or injury, and how well our bodies as a whole function over time.
And not all parts of our bodies age at the same rate. For instance, your eyesight might be absolutely perfect but your heart muscle is slowly failing. Your skin might be incredibly youthful but your mind might be facing cognitive difficulties. You might have arthritis in your hands but not a single glimmer of pain in your knees or hips.
While there’s nothing you can do about your chronological age, there are plenty of things you can do about your biological age.
While you can very easily track chronological age – sometimes right down to the minute, if you know exactly when you were born – how do you track biological age? And why does this matter?
Understanding the Healthspan
According to Northwestern Medicine, your “healthspan” is the period of time in your life when you are free of any aging-related diseases.1 This can include things like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lung diseases, cancer, dementia, and more. For most of us, that healthspan ends when we reach middle chronological age. The National Council on Aging reports that nearly 95% of senior adults over the age of 60 have at least one chronic condition, while almost 80% have two or more.2
Your healthspan is the time in your life when you are in your best state of physical being. The healthspan is a measure of the true quality of life rather than the quantity of years.
There are things you can do to increase and improve your healthspan, which will in turn lower your biological age. But how do you know when you have lowered your biological age?
How Do We Measure Biological Age?
To determine biological age, scientists look at your biomarkers. These are “biological markers” that objectively measure certain health factors. For instance, you can objectively measure blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure. The better your biomarkers are, the lower your biological age is.
Biomarkers can also be significant when it comes to figuring out what causes certain diseases and how to lower the risk of them. For example, the National Institute of Environmental Sciences studies biomarkers to help determine where health risks or advantages exist. One of those studies focused on the biomarkers related to heart disease and then compared those to the areas where people lived, finding that those who live in areas with more green space have heart health that is better than those who live in urban areas.
Some biomarkers tell doctors the makeup of certain cells, antibodies that are present to protect you against disease and infection, the different proteins and enzymes in your blood, and even the inflammation levels that can make you more susceptible to disease.
Biomarkers have also influenced the recommendations doctors give for improving your health. For instance, you might be prone to developing diabetes if other members of your family have it. By choosing proper lifestyle choices now, you can potentially block that genetic component and stay healthier longer.
How to Decrease Your Biological Age
There are many ways to decrease your biological age. Some of them are simple lifestyle changes that can add up over time and create a healthier body. In some cases, therapeutic medications can help – for instance, a 2019 study found that male volunteers who adhered to a specific drug regimen of common medications actually reversed their biological age by 2.5 years.3
How can you begin decreasing your biological age? Start with healthy habits. Here’s how.
· Try a plant-based diet. A diet based on plants helps lower the bad fats and cholesterol you consume, which can almost immediately have a positive effect on weight, blood vessel health, and more. Protein is still essential, however, so make sure you are getting plenty of it through beans, lentils, tofu, yogurt, and the like. And remember that a plant-based diet doesn’t mean you have to completely cut out meat, fish, or dairy products – it just means that the majority of your plate is filled with plant-based goodness rather than meat products.
· Watch your calories. Obesity is an epidemic in the United States and studies suggest it will only get worse in the coming years. Those who are careful about the calories they consume can keep their weight in check and thus, improve all age-related factors for cardiovascular disease and other health problems. As you keep an eye on those calories, remember that processed foods often add the highest calories with the lowest energy return, so avoid those empty calories and choose whole, unprocessed foods.
· Get good exercise. Any sort of physical exercise can help you build stronger muscles and bones. As you get older, weight-bearing exercises can help you stave off problems like osteoporosis, which is a top cause of fractures among the elderly who suffer a fall. Other types of exercise, such as HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) have proven to boost the energy of your cells. (No matter the exercise you choose, remember to wear a button alert while you get your heart rate up, for added safety and protection.)
· Get plenty of sleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports that blood tests on sleep-deprived people show increased DNA damage. Getting seven to nine hours of sleep each night is ideal to reduce the risk of chronic disease, improve mental health, and slow biological aging. The less sleep you get, the shorter your healthspan will be – and possibly your lifespan, too.
· Use a medical alert device. An alert for elderly adults can help you stay as healthy as possible by ensuring that when an accident or injury occurs, you can get help right away. There will be no lying on the floor hoping that help will arrive in what’s called the “golden hour” (the critical hour after a medical emergency takes place). By pressing the button on the handy device, you can be certain that you won’t suffer what doctors call the “long lie” – a period of time during which you are lying on the floor, which could lead to a worse outcome.
· Keep your stress levels low. Did you know that stress and anxiety can damage every cell of your body? That accelerates your biological age; it’s why those who are constantly stressed out tend to look older than their peers. Work to manage stress by figuring out what triggers your stress, engaging in healthy lifestyle habits that alleviate the anxiety, getting professional counseling to deal with a variety of concerns, and learning to breathe deeply or pray.
· Balance your gut microbiome. The healthy bacteria in your digestive system can work wonders to keep you healthy. To protect it, avoid processed foods and excess sugar, consume fermented foods like kimchi or yogurt, and eat a well-balanced diet. Talk to your doctor about probiotics if you feel you need more of a boost.
· Avoid social isolation and loneliness. Much has been written about loneliness and how dangerous it can be for seniors and elderly adults. That’s not only because of the risk of falling or suffering an injury when you are on your own (there is a fall detection medical alarm for that) but also because feeling lonely can lead to depression and anxiety, which can in turn lead to a higher risk of heart problems and other physical ailments. Get involved with your community, reach out to family and friends, and find supportive social environments that allow you to make new connections.
Finally, research has found that your mind directly influences your physical health. To that end, keeping a positive mindset is another key to staying young. To make this happen, try reframing anything that happens to you that might be negative, always doing so with an air of gratitude. For instance, rather than get angry at the person who cut you off in traffic, tell yourself that they are probably having a rough day and need to get somewhere quickly, and that while they might have made a dangerous move in traffic, thankfully nobody got hurt.
Over time, reframing and gratitude can improve your mindset, and that can improve your physical health, and combined with the lifestyle changes mentioned above, you can slow your biological age. Here’s to your health!
