Some of these claim to calculate your biological age using information gathered from a FitBit or other wearable tech, like heart rate or body temperature, or with bloodwork to measure things like your level of inflammation, triglycerides, and cortisol. There’s been a boom in companies offering to tell you how old you “really” are…for a few hundred bucks. That’s why people like my grandfather, who believed in a diet rich in vegetables grown himself and void of anything too greasy or too sugary, may be years younger than they look. What is clear, however, is that optimizing our diets, getting the proper amount of sleep, and regularly exercising are simple tasks that act a bit like a fountain of youth on their own. Hyman tells us that these treatments aren’t far off. Researchers haven’t quite cracked how to do the same for humans, but Dr. Scientists have been able to manipulate the genes of these creatures to correct the alterations in their mitochondria, for example, significantly extending their lifespans. Some of these interventions already exist, but don’t go calling your doctor just yet: They’re only available to aging-anxious fruit flies and tiny roundworms called the Caenorhabditis elegans. Belsky explains, that “makes us more vulnerable to disease or disability, and eventually kills us.” The hope is that one day, scientists will be able to create therapies that target these markers and slow the biological clock. As they gradually accumulate (rapidly if you’re chronically stressed or never exercise, or more slowly if you’re maintaining a healthy diet), they cause our tissues and organs to become less resilient and break down. All of them progress over time, beginning from when we’re very young. There are other hallmarks, too - and researchers are still discovering more each year. They shorten as we get older and eventually can’t keep our shoelaces from unraveling, Mark Hyman, M.D., who Katie spoke with recently about longevity, writes in his new book, Young Forever.) They’re a little like the plastic tips at the end of our shoelaces. (Telomeres are the protective caps on the ends of our chromosomes. These include DNA damage changes to our mitochondria, which you may remember from high school biology is the “powerhouse of the cell” and telomere attrition. Longevity science took a great leap forward when researchers discovered a set of molecular changes in a number of different species that control how fast or slow the body breaks down - called the hallmarks of aging. But how do they work? And are they actually reliable? Here’s what to know. ![]() In the years since we’ve come a lot closer to creating something akin to a biological age calculator, and a flurry of medical startups have developed their own battery of tests. One of the earliest attempts to quantify it was in 1969, when Alex Comfort, a British scientist best known for his bestseller The Joy of Sex, proposed a test to measure the rate of aging in humans. Gauging how well-preserved a person is, or what’s come to be called their “biological age,” is something scientists have puzzled over for years, says Daniel Belsky, Ph.D., a professor at Columbia University’s Aging Center. Longevity researchers have been studying this mismatch for years and have determined that, yes, a person may be 70 based on their birth certificate, but they could have the heart of a 50-year-old or the muscle tone of someone who’s 60. There’s often a gap between a person’s actual age and how old a person appears to be based on how well their cells and organs function. And we’ve all seen the reverse - someone whose years of hard drinking, smoking, or poor eating habits look to have taken their toll. We all know someone like this, a senior who seems just as vibrant and energetic as they did decades before. Strangers who met him almost always just assumed he was 10 to 15 years younger. He was sharp and articulate too, with impressive comedic timing and a fondness for pranks. He was never stooped like other octogenarians, he retained a lush head of salt-and-pepper hair that he kept neatly combed, and on his long daily walks, he was sure-footed and moved at a brisk clip. ![]() Once my grandfather got up into his 80s, it became very hard for anyone outside the family to guess how old he really was.
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