Summary
In her latest blog post, Heather Dentino, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse at the Couri Center, explores the concept of biological age and its significance in overall health. Unlike chronological age, which simply counts the years, biological age assesses the health and function of your cells and organs, potentially revealing an age that is significantly different from your years. Heather discusses the impact of accelerated biological aging on chronic diseases and outlines various methods for measuring biological age, such as epigenetic clocks and telomere length. She also emphasizes the importance of lifestyle factors in influencing biological age and provides actionable tips for maintaining a youthful biological age through diet, exercise, and stress management. For more insights on optimizing your biological age and improving your health, contact the Couri Center.
Chronological age is calculated by the number of years, months, and days that you have been alive. Biological age is calculated by assessing the health and function of your cells and organ systems. Many of us have encountered an 80+ year-old who takes no daily medication, mows her own lawn, prepares delicious meals, can easily recall information or memories from decades ago, attends church every Sunday, and volunteers within the community. This individual has a biological age that is significantly younger than her chronological age. Researchers are now dedicating their efforts to better understand biological age, how to accurately measure it, and its relationship to disease.
Why does biological age matter?
Accelerated aging is defined as having a biological age that is greater than your chronological age, and is an underlying risk factor for almost every chronic disease including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and dementia. A recent study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Annual Meeting showed that accelerated biological aging may be contributing to the recent rise of cancers seen in individuals under age 55.
How is biological age measured?
Biological age can be calculated using various methods that assess the body’s physiological and cellular state. Some common ways to calculate biological age include:
- Comprehensive panel of laboratory biomarkers that measures cardiovascular health, kidney function, liver function, as well as inflammatory markers, metabolic markers, and hormone levels. These biomarkers reflect different aspects of physiological function and aging.
- Epigenetic clocks that predict biological age based on methylation patterns, such as the Horvath clock and the Hannum clock
- Telomere length: Telomeres are protective caps at the ends of chromosomes that shorten with each cell division. Measuring the length of telomeres can provide an estimate of biological age.
What impacts biological age?
Epigenetics is the study of how environmental and lifestyle factors can turn genes on or off, directly affecting immune response, inflammation, and susceptibility to disease. Epigenetics helps determine biological age. Things like what we eat, how stressed we are, what we’re exposed to in the environment, and our lifestyle choices can make us age faster or slower by influencing genes related to aging and health.
Epigenetic factors that accelerate our biological age include:
- Diet rich in highly processed foods and refined carbs, sugars, and oils
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Stress and poor coping mechanisms
- The key to slow or halt the aging process is to remove as many of the above factors from our daily lives as possible.
We can then reverse our biological age by replacing the above variables with the following:
- A diet rich in organic, whole foods—with daily consumption of fiber-rich fruits and vegetables that are high in phytochemicals and antioxidants, as well as consumption of adequate, high-quality protein
- Optimization of micronutrients and vitamins, ideally from diet and sunlight exposure, but with supplementation when indicated
- Optimization of hormones
- Identifying and eliminating food sensitivities
- Weekly aerobic physical activity (minimum of 150 minutes per week) combined with strength training to build and preserve muscle mass
- Prioritizing high-quality, restful sleep, ideally a minimum of 7 hours per night
- Practicing stress management strategies such as counseling, breath work, prayer, time spent in nature, writing, or massage therapy
In summary, understanding and managing our biological age empowers us to make choices that support our health and longevity. As research progresses, focusing on strategies that maintain cellular health will continue to be key in promoting well-being and reducing the risk of disease and cancer. For more information on incorporating healthy lifestyle modifications that can help to improve your biological age, contact the Couri Center. We’re here to help.
Heather Dentino, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse
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