As you may know from prior posts, there is a difference between your chronological age- based on the day and year when you were born- and your biological age, which reflects the internal aging process of your major organs and the internal physiological deterioration of your body, leaving you susceptible to age-related diseases. While you may think that each year, as you gradually get older, your body slowly and methodically winds its way to an older state of being and decline, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have just published a paper in Nature Aging that upends our logical sense of how we age. 

According to this research, while change is always ongoing, there is a massive shift in your internal aging processes at 2 points in time. Scientists at Stanford collected an enormous amount of data from biological samples of 108 volunteers, aged 25 to 72. The volunteers donated blood and other biological samples every few months so that millions of molecules from these samples could be analyzed to determine what they revealed about the internal aging process. In total, they examined nearly 250 billion distinct data points. In the overwhelming majority of samples, it turns out that the samples represented specific bursts of aging in two different time periods, rather than a gradual linear process of aging over the years, Specifically what they found was, “It turns out the mid-40s is a time of dramatic change, as is the early 60s. And that’s true no matter what class of molecules you look at.” Both men and women experienced these changes. In the mid-40s, molecular changes were noted concerning cardiovascular disease, skin, muscles, and alcohol, caffeine, and lipid metabolism. In contrast, during the early 60s, molecular changes were seen related to kidney function, immune regulation, cardiovascular disease, and carbohydrate and caffeine metabolism. The causes of these aging “bursts” are not yet understood, though they may relate as much to lifestyle factors as to any biological processes happening internally. 

This is only an observational study and more research needs to be done to better understand both the biological causes of these aging bursts as well as the therapeutic possibilities that may be gleaned as a result. However, just knowing that these changes occur at these distinct periods may help us alter our lifestyle or health behaviors to put us on a path toward a longer health span. For example, if we know that middle age is a time of accelerated aging, we may want to consider our alcohol consumption or stress reduction tactics. Or perhaps ramp up our exercise activities. Or, given that our early 60s appears to be a time when immune system functioning declines, we may want to take preventive measures to shore up our immune system, including increasing our antioxidant consumption. For more on this study and its implications for your own health and aging, read up on healthy aging recommendations and click here and here.