Chronological age is what you celebrate when your birthday rolls around. It’s the number of years that have passed since you were born, but, as a new study shows, your chronological age may be quite different than your biological age. As this study points out, not everyone ages at the same rate. Therefore, the age written on your birth certificate doesn’t always reflect what’s happening at the cellular level. If you’re lucky enough to be a slow ager, you may have the health and stamina of a 30-year-old, despite being 45 years of age.
Chronological Age versus Biological Age
Researchers in New Zealand followed more than 950 people born in 1972 up until the present. Along the way, they looked at a variety of different markers associated with aging such as blood pressure, weight, waist size, kidney function, cardiovascular fitness, ability to balance, mental aptitude, and blood lipid levels, to name a few. They wanted to see how these markers corresponded to the chronological age of the participants. What they found was enlightening.
Despite the participants having a chronological age of 38 at the end of the study, their biological ages, based on aging biomarkers, ranged from the late 20s to as high as late 50s. Although most people were fairly close to their biological age overall, there were a significant number of outliers, people who had the health of those far younger or older than age 38. Rather than aging a year every year, some participants were aging at a rate of 0.7 years every year or 1.5 years on a yearly basis from a health and well-being standpoint.
Here’s where it gets even more interesting. When they asked people to guess the ages of the participant based on their physical appearance, the biologically “young” folks were consistently thought to be younger. This isn’t the first study to show people who look young on the outside are aging more slowly on the inside. There seems to be a correlation with looking young and being young from a biological standpoint.
No wonder there are so many tests online that supposedly tell you your “real age,” because it’s looking like your chronological age can be off by more than 10 years. The cells and tissues in your body may be on a completely different time course, hopefully aging more slowly.
Healthy Aging and Lifestyle Habits
Unfortunately, this study didn’t look at why the slow aging individuals in the study aged more slowly biologically, but research suggests that certain lifestyle factors MAY slow down the aging process. For example, exercise improves various biological markers of aging, including muscle strength, aerobic capacity, balance, coordination, cognitive function, and, possibly, immune health. Exercise also likely improves other aging markers such as kidney function by improving blood flow to the kidneys.
As you might expect, diet is a factor in healthy aging. A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine followed almost 11,000 women in their late 50s for 15 years found a Mediterranean diet was linked with healthy aging. In this case, healthy aging was defined as having no major impairments in mental, physical or cognitive function and having no chronic diseases. Interestingly, some studies link periods of intermittent fasting with slower aging but it’s not clear whether this slows aging in humans.
Eating a diet high in sugar may also contribute to cellular aging. Diabetics age at a faster rate than people with healthy blood sugar regulation. One way this occurs is through the process of glycation. High circulating levels of glucose bind to proteins and create advanced glycation end-products. This disrupts their normal function and causes stiffening of tissues, including the inner walls of arteries.
Factors That Work Against Healthy Aging
Successful aging has a lot to do with what you DON’T do as well. Factors like cigarette smoking, excessive use of alcohol, lack of sleep, and stress can all age you prematurely. From a superficial standpoint, exposing your skin to the sun and not wearing a sunscreen prematurely ages your skin. Of course, genetics plays a role in how fast people age. If you have a mom or dad who’s healthy and fit, your chance of aging more slowly and aging well is higher.
Still, you shouldn’t be discouraged if good anti-aging genes don’t run in your family. The genetic link to aging may involve structures called telomeres. Telomeres are end-caps on the tips of chromosomes that protect them against damage. Shorter telomeres are linked with cellular aging and earlier mortality. In one small study involving men with prostate cancer, researchers found making healthy lifestyle changes: eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and without refined carbs, exercising for at least 30 minutes most days of the week, and stress reduction techniques lengthened telomeres by 10%. A group that didn’t make these changes showed a 3% reduction in telomere link over the course of the 5-year study.
Experts speculate that about a third of aging and longevity is genetic in origin. That means you have control over 70% of aging! Not bad! As further confirmation that people age at different rates, the oldest living woman in the U.S. is 116 years old. Even with the healthiest of lifestyles, that’s a tough one to top!
The Bottom Line
The age on your driver’s license might say 40, but you could be 30 or 50 in terms of your biological age. Which are YOU? A lot depends on the type of lifestyle you’re leading. Hopefully, you’re exercising, including resistance training to preserve lean body mass, eating a whole foods diet, controlling your stress level, getting your beauty sleep, and not practicing bad habits like smoking and overusing alcohol. You may not live to be 100 if you do these things, but your chances will be higher – and you’ll be more functional too.
References:
Ann Intern Med. 2013 Nov 5;159(9):584-91. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-159-9-201311050-00004.
Psych Central. “Lifestyle Changes Can Impact Gene Structure Tied to Aging”
USC News. “Diet that mimics fasting appears to slow aging” June 18, 2015.
Washington Post. “Study of 1,000 38-year-olds shows ‘biological age’ ranges from 30 to 60” July 7, 2015.
Dermatoendocrinol. 2012 Jul 1; 4(3): 259-270.doi: 10.4161/derm.22028
Today’s Dietician. Today’s Dietitian. Vol. 16 No. 3 P. 10.
Mercola.com. “Avoid Sugar to Help Slow Aging”
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