![]() ![]() ![]() It’s tempting to think that if you don’t do anything extraordinarily bad for you (like the guy who ate only McDonald’s for thirty days) your biological and chronological ages will more or less match.īecause the typical western diet is so high in saturated fat and sugar, and we are increasingly sedentary, most of us have a biological age a bit higher than our chronological age. Poor nutrition and lack of exercise can contribute to the more dangerous internal signs of aging, such as low bone density, cognitive decline, reduced lung capacity and heart disease. Behaviours like smoking, sun exposure, weight and stress created the most visible signs of ageing – and these are just the signs you can see on the outside. Research published in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery journal looked at different sets of identical twins and how their lifestyle choices made subtle differences to how old they looked. Likewise, we all know a guy who’s in his 20s, drinks alcohol, chain smokes, plays video games into the wee hours and whose vegetable intake is limited to the mushrooms on a supreme pizza! Though he may not look it (yet), his biological age might be 15 years older than his calendar age. So while your chronological age may be 50, if you exercise regularly, eat and sleep well, don’t smoke or drink to excess, your biological age may be closer to 40. It’s a measure of risk factors for chronic disease that would put you in the same health bracket of someone with that chronological age. Your biological age reflects your body’s current state of health. Our parents or grandparents may have died by a certain age and we may link our own mortality to that number, even unconsciously.īut what if we’re focussing on the wrong set of numbers? What if our health depends not on our chronological age, but on our biological age? Your biological age We say things like ‘we look good for our age’ and put pressure on ourselves to achieve certain milestones with the ‘big’ birthdays of 30, 40 and 50. We tend to attach a lot of importance to our chronological age. I plan to make these changes, and then retake the test in 4-6 months.Most of us know what our chronological age is or how old we are in calendar years, although some of us prefer not to count how many candles are on the birthday cake each year. Get eight hours of sleep each night – as of now, I get between 6-7.Īlthough we can’t change the number of times we go around the sun, we can alter the rate of aging in our body. Skip the bread basket and dessert unless it is on my designated cheat day.Ĭreate a healthy morning and evening routine that includes more down time. Break mid-day to walk in addition to regular yoga and strength-training exercises.Įat out less so I have more control over the foods I eat. Reduce sitting time and do some jumping jacks between calls. I am not able to take other recommended hormones due to a blood-clotting disorder. Take DHEA – The Thorne report also recommended this, so I will be adding it to my regimen. I have a hard time drinking water, so I have lots of room for improvement here! I also contacted my integrative doctor and my nutritionist to gain further insight, in addition to the recommendations in the Thorne test results.ĭrink more water – I will add lemon and send myself reminders to drink more during the day. I will try adding an additional yoga class to my weekly routine (currently once a week) and carve out space to make mediation a part of my daily schedule. I clearly need to add more Zen into my daily routine. I believe the stresses of life and work quite often take over. Regular yoga increases the levels of DHEA and so does meditation. Relax the body and brain – DHEA is a biomarker that has a strong impact on Biological Age. I will try to add more daily steps and strength training to my routine. Keep up the exercise – I like to move my body every day and will continue to do so. I will now just drink lemon water or tea before breaking my fast, which is usually at noon (I like to fast for 16 hours).Įat liver-supporting foods and spices – I already eat a lot of green leafy veggies but will add more variety plus, I will introduce turmeric and more garlic to my foods. Practice Intermittent Fasting – I was doing this incorrectly by starting my day in the AM with a mushroom drink made with a shot of coconut creamer, and then eating my first meal at noon. Now I will reduce my cheat days to only one day, not three. Keep scrolling for more information and details including some suggested supplements.įollow the Mediterranean Diet – I do this to some extent but I have been reserving weekends to go off the diet (Friday – Sunday). I was happy to read that I can turn these results around with some lifestyle changes, and I will be implementing these changes over the coming months. ![]()
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