Page 16 - Seniorstoday May 2023 Issue
P. 16
Health
Are you a rapid ager?
Biological age is a better health indicator than the number of years you’ve
lived, but it’s tricky to measure, writes Aditi Gurkar
Do you ever wake up some days and think, More than any individual risk factor such
“When I was younger, I could survive on as smoking or lack of exercise, the number
just four hours of sleep, but now it seems of years you’ve lived predicts onset of
like I need 10”? Or have you ever walked disease. Indeed, aging increases the risk
out of the gym and “felt” your knees? of multiple chronic diseases by up to a
Almost everyone experiences these thousandfold.
kinds of signs of aging. But there are some However, no two people age the same.
people who seem to defy their age. The late Although age is the principal risk factor for
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader several chronic diseases, it is an unreliable
Ginsberg stayed on the bench until her indicator of how quickly your body will
death at age 87. The “Great British Bake decline or how susceptible you are to age-
Off” judge Mary Berry, now in her 80s, related disease. This is because there is a
continues to inspire people all over the difference between your chronological age,
world to bake and enjoy life. And actor or the number of years you’ve been alive,
Paul Rudd was named People magazine’s and your biological age – your physical and
“Sexiest Man Alive” in 2021 at age 52 while functional ability.
still looking like he’s in his 30s. Is age just a I am a scientist interested in redefining
number then? “age.” Instead of benchmarking
Researchers have focused a lot of chronological age, my lab is invested in
attention on understanding the causes and measuring biological age. Biological age
risk factors of age-related diseases like is a more accurate measure of healthspan,
Alzheimer’s, dementia, osteoporosis and or years lived in good health, than
cancer. But many ignore the major risk chronological age, and doesn’t directly
factor for all of these diseases: aging itself. correlate with wrinkles and gray hairs.
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