That is especially true for people whose biological age is much older than their chronological age. вЂњWhat you eat, what you drink, how well you sleep, and the quality of your relationships all have a real impact.вЂќ If you see room for improvement in your biological age, think of it as a chance to reevaluate your choices. вЂњMore than 90% of our longevity in terms of life span and health span - the healthy years of life - is determined by our environment, not genetics,вЂќ stresses Eric Verdin, M.D., president and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. So what does one do with that information? According to the researchers, take charge. The most important thing to keep in mind is that if your rate of biological aging is less than one, youвЂ™re aging more slowly than your actual years. вЂњAbout 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,вЂќ she explains. Four to six weeks later, you receive your report, in which youвЂ™ll learn your cumulative rate of aging and find out whether your biological age is older or younger than the number on your driverвЂ™s license. As with other kits, all you do is provide a saliva sample. For about a year, Levine has been working with Elysium Health to create Index, an at-home test that evaluates over 100,000 epigenetic biomarkers on a personвЂ™s DNA. Over the past decade, people everywhere have benefited from techвЂ™s influence on health - from wearable trackers and smartwatches that monitor activity, heart rate, and sleep to testing kits that provide info about ancestry, gut microbiome, and fertility.ДЄ new category of at-home tests is now emerging that goes beyond ancestry to assessing aging and more. These changes can help predict how well youвЂ™re going to age, how long youвЂ™re going to live, and even if youвЂ™re at increased risk for chronic disease. Scientists have now identified biomarkers (chemical changes) in an individualвЂ™s DNA that correspond with aging. ThatвЂ™s been proven wrong - it can be modified by the environment,вЂќ says Elaine Chin, M.D., founder and chief medical officer at Executive Health Centre and author of Lifelines: Unlock the Secrets of Your Telomeres for a Longer, Healthier Life. вЂњPreviously we assumed that the genome, our entire DNA library, didnвЂ™t change throughout a personвЂ™s life. The rise of epigenetics (a complex field of study that examines specific changes in gene activity) and the identification of biological age have been regarded by some as the holy grail in understanding how we grow older. So the real question is, how can we change our biological age? New Research Areas SheвЂ™s also head of bioinformatics at Elysium Health, a life sciences company recognized with our GH Innovation Emblem for its commitment to scientific rigor and research. The level one person hits by 50, another may not hit until 60,вЂќ explains Morgan Levine, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology at Yale School of Medicine. вЂњPeople are very diverse in terms of their aging rates.

Biological age is a measurement that, instead of tracking years, looks at chemical marks on DNA that show how our biological systems are actually aging. The other development is that some scientists today are less interested in the date on your birth certificate than they are in a different marker: your biological age.

'That's an exciting development since I began my medical career in the 1980s,вЂќ she adds. Bernard, M.D., deputy director of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. вЂњThereвЂ™s a hypothesis that if you can manipulate the aging process, you could possibly forestall the development of chronic disease and get people living longer and healthier,вЂќ says Marie A. Much of this shift in mindset can be attributed to the ever-expanding field of aging research and its perceived infinite potential. For many, 40 is the new 30, and 60 is the new 40. But our chronological age doesnвЂ™t account for how we interpret or feel about that number. All these are based on how long youвЂ™ve been alive, and of course that canвЂ™t be changed. In our culture, we've always noted major milestones by age - voting at 18, being legally allowed to drink at 21, and retiring at 65 (or so). Now their findings have the potential to shake up everything we thought we knew about aging - but the burning question remains: Can we actually change how we age? For years, health researchers and entrepreneurs have been studying aging down to the cellular level to see if itвЂ™s possible to slow, stop or even reverse the factors that influence how getting older affects us.

Chronological age meaning