‘Biological age’ is supposed to indicate the ‘real’ age of your body – or what age you are on the inside. It’s this that biohackers are trying to manipulate in their quest for longer, healthier lives. But I’m not a biohacker. I’m a quite tired, full-time editor, mother of two teenagers and wife to an overworked teacher. I don’t really exercise and I enjoy a drink. So how the hell is my biological age 20?
Molecular biologist Dr Nichola Conlon is an expert on longevity, and explains: “Ultimately everything to do with the ageing process really starts on the inside at the cellular level. What’s really interesting is that not everyone’s biological age and chronological age match up. Some people are either ageing faster on the inside – in which case they have a higher biological age – or they’re ageing slower on the inside, so their biological age is lower.”
Dr Nichola appears on the podcast ‘What’s My Age Again?’, where comedian Katherine Ryan gives celebrity guests a biological age test. To give a bit of context, Katie Price was 70 (actual age 47), former footballer Jill Scott was 50 (38) and super scientist Prof Tim Spector was 42 (67). The test used in the show is the same one I tried, called GlycanAge. Jonathan White from the company says, “[it’s] an at-home finger-prick blood test that measures your biological age through the lens of your immune system. We measure the chronic inflammation in your body and the patterns that cause it.”
When I receive my rather fantastic results from Dr Nichola, I’m told that my inflammatory markers are in the top 1%. Most people in this centile are on some kind of supplement or medication to help with ageing or longevity (for instance HRT). Otherwise they have both good genes (family members living well into their 90s) and a very resilient immune system (with minimal inflammation).
I’m not too sure how I’ve found myself here. My longevity genes don’t seem to be bad (my parents are soon turning 80 and look young for their age; but only one of my grandparents reached old age). And honestly, I’d never even considered my inflammation levels before now.
“The way that we age is far more in our hands than we realised. We used to think ageing was ‘set’ by our genetics. But now we know it’s only 20% genetics and 80% lifestyle,” says Dr Nichola.
Jonathan White adds, “The most important factors are genetics, your actual age, hormone levels, stress levels, optimised sleep and nutrition.” He claims that any small improvement you make to any of these factors should show up in the test metrics, but – for any meaningful change to your biological age – you’d need a more sustained and significant effort.
So here’s how I accidentally hacked my biological age for one that’s less than half my actual age (let me know if you need any help with yours, Prof Spector!)…
Late menopause
“My immediate thought for this type of a brilliant result was that you were possibly on HRT – for women this makes a big difference to biological age,” says Dr Nichola. I’m not taking HRT; I’m not even sure if I’m perimenopausal as I haven’t had any symptoms (I’ve been period-free for many years thanks to contraception).
The decline in hormones caused by perimenopause leads to a rapid increase in biological age. Dr Nichola explains: “There was a study done that looked at women going from perimenopause to full menopause and they found that, in just six months, their biological age increased by an average of nine years.”
So while a later perimenopause is benefitting my biological age right now, I’m really just storing up trouble for later. Unless I go on to HRT, of course…
Sleep
Sleep is one of my few talents. I can pretty much drop off any time I’m allowed, and generally get a solid 8 hours. And it turns out this is absolutely key for your biological age.
“People completely underestimate the power of sleep,” says Dr Nichola. “Lack of sleep or disturbed sleep absolutely wreaks havoc with health, ageing and everything else. If the sleep is not good, it doesn’t matter what else you’re doing, it’s so fundamentally important.
“Studies show that people who have disrupted sleep, or people who are doing shift work, have a much higher incidence of chronic illness and disease, and a lower life expectancy. I think the fact that you say that your sleep is good is probably one of the things that is really helping.”
Diet
As health editor on Good Food and olive magazine, I have a real advantage when it comes to healthy eating. I enjoy food, love trying new things, and have a partner who’s a great cook. I know what’s good for me, but don’t restrict myself and eat my fair share of biscuits.
According to Dr Nichola, it’s my enjoyment of homemade dinners that’s making the difference. “Home cooking your food instead of all the ultra-processed foods (UPFs) that a lot of people eat these days has a huge impact on biological age and health. First of all, there are the natural compounds that are in fruits, veg and other plant foods that encourage our cells to repair, and promote lower inflammation. If you’re eating UPFs that have had all the nutrients stripped out, you’re not getting all of nature’s medicine cabinet.
“It’s not just the lack of nutrients, but also the harmful chemicals and ingredients that are added to UPFs – all the preservatives, the processed fats – that have a negative impact on our gut health.”
Being gentle on yourself
I ask Dr Nichola about fitness, saying that my only real exercise comes from a daily dog walk. Surprisingly, she says that it could be this gentle approach, rather than a more hardcore regime, that is doing me good.
“The ideal lifestyle is about balance. The body doesn’t like extremes. It doesn’t like extreme diets or eliminating things. It doesn’t like doing 12 exercise sessions a week. Your body actually just likes a nice walk in nature to destress, with some good food and some good sleep.”
It turns out that being gentle on yourself, and doing things that reduce stress and make you feel good, can make a big difference: “Stress will impact biological age because your body’s in a heightened state of cortisol, which is naturally pro-inflammatory. That’s fine if we’re running away from a tiger or something temporary, but not when it lasts for weeks or months and is keeping inflammation switched on in your body.”
According to Dr Nichola, one study that looked at people diagnosed with PTSD showed their biological age was increased by an average of 15 years.
How important is biological age?
The big question is whether all this really will influence my longevity or health as I grow older. As biological age changes according to your circumstances, it seems realistic that stress or menopause will get me in the end.
I also can’t be sure how accurate the test is, so I asked an expert from the Royal College of GPs. Their chair, Dr Victoria Tzortziou Brown, said, “Many of the home testing kits currently being marketed directly to the public may not be supported by strong, consistent evidence, and there is still significant uncertainty around how reliable or meaningful their results will be for individuals.”
But the real clincher for me comes a few days later, at the optician of all places. At my annual eye test, I’m told that I’ll need to move on to varifocals, due to age-related longsightedness. And suddenly, as my mind fills with images of old ladies in half-moon spectacles, I realise: nobody told my body that it was supposed to be young! It’s still hitting its milestones, and no discussion of inflammatory markers or biohacking will stop it from eyesight deterioration, laughter lines or increasingly straggly eyebrows. While it was nice to be (briefly) 20 again, I know it can’t last for ever.
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