Aging can be Chronological, and Biological. Chronological age is the age in years, as one grows older after birth. Biological aging is the aging at cellular and molecular level. Chronological age and Biological age can be well different depending on the different habits (food, physical activity, and accompanied diseases etc.).
Aging is accompanied by gradual changes in most body systems. Research on the biology of aging focuses on understanding the cellular and molecular processes underlying these changes as well as those accompanying the onset of age-related diseases.
Gradual loss of the length of Telomeres, the highly repetitive DNA sequences located at the end of chromosomes, is associated with cell aging (biological aging). As cells divide, telomere length gets progressively shorter until eventually, proliferation stops entirely. Such cells, which have ceased dividing, are called senescent.
New research shows that the following eight simple health measures can help in slowing down ageing. According to researchers, following the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 can help slow down biological ageing by six years.
The identified health measures are
1. Eating Healthy,
2. Exercising Regularly,
3. Not Smoking,
4. Getting Enough Sleep,
5. Maintaining Low Cholesterol Levels,
6. Healthy Blood Pressure,
7. Healthy Sugar Levels and
8. Staying Slim.
Experts believe that these eight measures can improve good heart health, which eventually helps to slow the pace of biological ageing. Researchers at Columbia University in New York looked at data from more than 6,500 Americans, aged 47, on average. They determined their phenotypic age by using an experimental gauge of biological age, which relies on the outcomes of nine biomarkers. These biomarkers encompass measurements related to metabolism, inflammation, and organ function.
The scientists then assigned each participant a cardiovascular score—categorized as high, moderate, or low—depending on their adherence to the Life Essential 8 checklist.
Factors that could skew the results, income, education and ethnicity, were accounted for.
People who had high cardiovascular health were associated with a lower biological age. This means that such participants were younger than expected physiologically. For example, the average actual age of those with high cardiovascular health was 41, yet their average biological age was 36.
On the other hand, people who had low cardiovascular health had a positive phenotypic age acceleration. This meant that they were older than expected biologically. An example of this is, the average actual age of those with low cardiovascular health was 53, while their biological age was 57.
A further analysis showed that having the highest healthy score was linked to being six years younger, biologically.
The researchers found that higher cardiovascular health is associated with decelerated biological ageing, as measured by phenotypic age. They also found a dose-dependent association — as heart health goes up, biological ageing goes down. That means the greater the adherence to all Life's Essential 8 metrics the more slow down body's ageing process and a lot of benefits down the line.
“Reduced biologic ageing is not just associated with lower risk of chronic disease such as heart disease; it is also associated with longer life and lower risk of death.”
“Everyone wants to live longer, yet more importantly, we want to live healthier longer so we can really enjoy and have good quality of life for as many years as possible.”
The original publication can be accessed here.
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