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What is the difference between chronological and biological age?
Your chronological age is the total number of years you have been alive. However, your biological age is how old your body seems, based on various factors – including how your chromosomes have changed over time through looking at glycans. Biological age is also sometimes referred to as physiological age. Your biological age refers to the age of your cells and tissues based on physiological evidence. Your biological age may be lower than your chronological age if you’re quite healthy and fit. In contrast, your biological age may be higher if you are sedentary, chronically ill or in poor physical condition. Your biological age indicates how much aging and damage has occurred inside your body over the course of your lifetime. The biological age calculations are accurate predictors of your healthspan and lifespan. It might sound obvious, but aging is the leading risk factor for disease. How you interact with the world around you, from your eating and exercise habits to your social behaviors, determines the way you genes will affect your body in terms of aging. So, if you’re 40 years old and you did everything right, your RealAge is 28.5 years. Essentially, everyone has two ages: a chronological age, how old the calendar says you are, and a phenotypic or biological age, basically the age at which your body functions as it compares to average fitness or health levels. A human being’s age can be categorized into four types: Chronological age, Appearance age, Biological age, and Mental age.
Is biological age more important than chronological age?
Research suggests that biological age is more accurate than chronological age for predicting the onset of disease and death. This article looks at chronological versus biological aging, how biological age is determined, and how you may be able to lower your biological age. Biological Versus Chronological Age Chronological age is how long you have existed. Biological age is how old your cells are. Sometimes these two numbers are the same for people, but everyone ages at different rates. Your chronological age will always increase at a set rate as the years pass. However, there are steps you can take to improve your biological age. With the right lifestyle changes, you could even have a younger biological age than your chronological age. Studies in the biodemography of human longevity indicate a late-life mortality deceleration law: that death rates level off at advanced ages to a late-life mortality plateau. That is, there is no fixed upper limit to human longevity, or fixed maximal human lifespan. Your cells, rudely enough, do not celebrate your birthday. With only some regard for your chronological age, your tissues, organs and blood reflect your “phenotypic age,” more commonly known as your biological age. Body age is a measurement of how old you are biologically based upon your health and fitness level as opposed to what your birth certificate indicates. For example, someone who is thirty-five years old may have a body age that is ten years older.
What does biological age mean?
Your chronological age is the number of years you’ve been alive. Your biological age is how old your body seems, based on a number of factors, including how your chromosomes have changed over time. Whatever your age, your body is many years younger. In fact, even if you’re middle aged, most of you may be just 10 years old or less. This heartening truth, which arises from the fact that most of the body’s tissues are under constant renewal, has been underlined by a novel method of estimating the age of human cells. “About 68% of people will have a biological age within five years of their chronological age, but you can also find individuals who are a decade or more older or younger,” she explains. “Individuals are aging at different rates as well as potentially through different biological mechanisms,” or ageotypes, the Stanford scientists wrote. “Of course the whole body ages,” said biologist Michael Snyder, who led the study. “But in a given individual, some systems age faster or slower than others. You can calculate your biological age using an online questionnaire like the Activ Age Calculator. This is as simple questionnaire which uses your actual age and then considers factors like your blood sugar level, cholesterol level, eating habits and lifestyle to calculate your biological age. Age… is just a number to which many have attached great significance. Somehow, it’s given more meaning than it should. And, why not, the world around us, with its prevailing cultural beliefs and social norms, reinforces this harmful thinking.
How biological age is determined?
Biological age is the concept of using biophysiological measures to more accurately determine an individual’s age-related risk of adverse outcomes. Grading of the degree of frailty and measuring biomarkers are distinct methods of measuring biological age. Chronological age is how long you have existed. Biological age is how old your cells are. Sometimes these two numbers are the same for people, but everyone ages at different rates. Your healthspan is the period of life where you are free of any aging-related disease. ‘ Both genetics and lifestyle-related factors have an influence on our youthful appearance. The key to understand perceived ageing is the interaction between these two elements. Epigenetics can provide this key. Restricting calories and adhering to a healthy diet is one of the most widely proven ways to reduce biological age. For example, a prominent study published in The Lancet evaluated the results from two years of calorie restriction in a group of non-obese men and women.
What is a chronological age example?
For example, if you were asked how old you were on your 21st birthday, you probably responded by saying that you had just turned 21 years old. When you give someone your age based on the calendar date on which you were born, you are giving them your chronological age. But there’s no comparable test for humans. If a person doesn’t have their birth certificate, there’s no way to reliably tell his or her age. Why is my biological age higher than my actual age? Once you get your results back from a biological age test and it comes back higher than your chronological age, it may mean there has been some damage to your cells, and your body is ageing prematurely. However, there is no need to panic. the years of retirement, normally after age 65. “About 68% of people will have a biological age within five years of their chronological age, but you can also find individuals who are a decade or more older or younger,” she explains.