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This article on CNN.com, posted on November 30th, immediately caught my eye.
Your chronological age is fairly self-explanatory – It’s based on your birthday.
Your biological age is a bit more complicated – It’s called someone’s phenotypic age.
Phenotypic: Relating to the observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.
Remember biology class?
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Long story short: Your biological age determines health and lifespan.
Morgan Levine, a professor and researcher at Yale Medical School, worked with her team to identify nine biomarkers in a simple blood test. Some of these biomarkers include blood sugar, kidney and liver measures, and immune and inflammatory measures.
The bottom line: People who have a lower biological age than their chronological age have a lower mortality risk.
What’s interesting about Levine and her team’s research is that your biological age is not permanent. It can be adjusted. Meaning, changing things like lifestyle, diet, exercise, and sleep habits can lower one’s mortality risk and improve one’s biological age.
Currently, Levine is working to provide access to the algorithm online so that anyone can calculate their biological age, and take further steps to improve it.
- Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School
- Yale Medical School
- Chronological vs. Biological Age
- RealAge Longevity Calculator Review
- Human Body’s Chronological And Biological Age May Differ: Why Your Breast Tissues Are Older Than The Rest Of You
What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
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This is very interesting, & I agree. Health plays a key factor in our biological age & barring any unforseen events, it can prolong our chronological age as well! Great post!
Thank you!