How to Determine Your Biological Age

You know the expression, “Age is only a number”? Well, it turns out there’s some truth to that.

Scientists have discovered markers of aging in human DNA, and they now know that certain lifestyle choices change the behavior of these markers. More research is needed, but the implication is clear — your chronological age is less meaningful in determining how long you’ll live than your biological age or the accumulation of damage occurring to your DNA on the cellular level. 

You can’t turn back time, but there’s a good chance you can stick around a bit longer if you make a few (not so simple) changes designed to lower your biological age. 

Read on to find out how to determine your biological age and the steps you can take to lengthen the number of years you are here on planet Earth.

The Science Behind Aging

For over 50 years, scientists have been aware of the discrepancy between a person’s chronological age — the number of years they’ve been alive — and their biological age, or the age they “really” are, based on a combination of factors. To quote Dr. Andrea Britta Maier, co-director of the Centre for Healthy Longevity at the National University of Singapore, biological age is “the accumulation of damage” that is measurable in your body. 

Advances in genetic research have allowed the study of this damage on the chromosomal level, where strands of DNA replicate. In particular, scientists now have the tools to measure the changes in human beings’ epigenetic clock, a term coined for methylation patterns (damage) found on strands of DNA. 

What they have found is that the ends of chromosomes, called telomeres, shorten each time a cell divides. The telomere protects genetic information coded in your DNA by keeping the chromosome itself from fraying, and when it gets too short, that cell is unable to divide; it either becomes inactive or dies. Thus, telomeres hold an important key not only to the aging process but also to the development of diseases like cancer, which are caused by abnormal cellular division and growth.

The most fascinating thing to come from this research is the possibility that you can control your biological age. It turns out that the aging process is not just a combination of innate biological forces acting on everyone’s body in the same predictable way. Yes, there is some of that. The inflammation that contributes to cellular death, for instance, is part of a natural aging process. But environmental factors — the diet you eat, the amount of exercise you get, and a number of other things — can also cause changes to your epigenetic clock, in some cases reversing the chromosomal damage.  

Although it doesn’t yet say it is possible, science speculates that you have the ability to transform how long you live by making some changes to your behavior. There are now genetic tests you can take to measure your epigenome, providing you with a baseline from which you can make changes that could lower your biological age.  

How to Determine Your Biological Age

Take the Genetic Test

A number of companies now offer genetic kits for you to collect a DNA sample and send it off to the lab for analysis. The lab compares changes in your epigenome to population averages and uses that statistical information to calculate your biological age. 

At several hundred dollars a pop, the tests are pricey, and because they are notoriously inaccurate, their results are more about satisfying your curiosity than they are about providing an accurate figure. At this point, in the infancy of epigenetic research, you will receive equally predictive results from standard blood tests that measure cholesterol and blood sugar. 

Fill out a Questionnaire

Don’t want to spend money on a science that is not exactly precise? 

RealAge^Ⓡ  is the branded precursor to the genetic test kits. Instead of examining your genetic material, this method of determining your biological age asks you to simply answer a number of questions about your health and lifestyle choices. 

Some of you may recognize the RealAge^Ⓡ designation from last decade’s talk show circuit; Oprah Winfrey and  Dr. Oz were early proponents of biological age as a factor for predicting one’s overall health and wellness.

You can still fill out a questionnaire sponsored by the Blue Zone Project, which studies longevity in regions throughout the world, by establishing an account through ShareCare. The RealAge^Ⓡ Test is free, and you can update data as you make recommended lifestyle changes through the ShareCare app.

Potential Ways to Lower Your Biological Age 

Strive for Better Sleep

Not enough sleep has been linked to hypertension, higher cholesterol, and a slower metabolism. Poor sleep habits have also been linked to early onset of disease and a shortened lifespan overall. In fact, the role of sleep in maintaining health is so important that some doctors prefer that their patients take sleep aids, regardless of their associated risks, rather than subject themselves to long periods of poor sleep.  

A 2021 study conducted by researchers Judith Carroll and Aric Prather confirms that sleep disturbance impacts humans on an epigenetic level, increasing the inflammation that leads cells to stop reproducing and shortening telomere length. 

If you are having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, your doctor can order a sleep study to assess the quality of sleep you are getting. They may also be able to prescribe a temporary sleep aid. Meanwhile, it is never a bad idea to practice good sleep hygiene. 

Become a Vegan

According to a mounting body of scientific research, diet plays an important role in determining our biological age. It’s not just what you eat; when and how much humans consume also plays a potential role in setting our epigenetic clock. Intermittent fasting, for instance, is just one practice scientists believe could reduce cellular damage and lower biological age.

The Stanford Twin Study, featured in a recent Netflix documentary, You Are What You Eat, examines another way diet is linked to the epigenome. The study placed 22 sets of identical twins on either a vegan diet or a healthy omnivore diet for a period of eight weeks. The use of identical twins allowed the research to focus on the impact of dietary change without having to factor in the other biological differences that would skew a study of people with different genetic structures.

To some extent, the study’s results merely echo what nutritional experts like Dr. Michael Greger, author of How Not to Die, have been saying for years: a plant-based diet will significantly lower your chances of developing cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.

Nothing new there, but one result of the Stanford Twin Study is fascinating. After just eight weeks, the telomeres of the twins who ate vegan diets became 10% longer than the twins on a healthy omnivore diet. That statistically significant result means a vegan diet might delay the genetic process by which we age. It confirms the research conducted in other studies, which show that diet is the single most significant factor in lowering your biological age.  

Get More Exercise

The epigenetics of physical exercise is another field that holds promise for individuals hoping to lower their biological age. According to a recent article in the Journal of Sport and Health Science, “Exercise … extensively induce[s] epigenetic modifications, including DNA/RNA methylation, histone post-translational modifications, and non-coding RNAs in multiple tissues, which may contribute to their positive effects in human health and diseases.”

That’s a fancy way of saying that exercise, like sleep and diet, has a measurable impact on one’s epigenetic clock. Although researchers don’t know precisely what the link is, there appears to be some connection between exercise’s ability to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease and its protective effect on your biological age. 

Whatever the case, exercise is good for you, and chances are, you’re not getting the recommended 150 minutes a week you need to stay healthy. Getting fit may be easier if you use a fitness app or accountability partner to stay on track. 

Some Final Thoughts

Death is inevitable. But having a productive and active old age is somewhat within your control, and you might gain some time if you follow the guidelines listed above. Since these are already proven ways to boost your overall health and well-being, whether or not they have an effect on longevity, there’s certainly no harm in trying. That’s the good news. 

The bad news is that epigenetic science is in its infancy, and no one can say for sure whether it’s possible to increase your lifespan by making lifestyle changes. Moreover — and perhaps this is the most salient point — it’s hard work to make these changes. 

One way to make such changes worthwhile, even if they don’t add years to your lifespan, is that some of them — a vegan diet in particular — also protect the viability of our ecosystem. If you want your kids to inherit that business you are looking to purchase your dietary choices could benefit them by helping to improve the health and longevity of the planet we live on.