Experiencing a mismatch between our perceived age and our actual age is a recurring feeling among many.
But the fact is that the expressions “50 is the new 30” or “feeling like 20 inside” don’t have to be completely colloquial – at least this is shown by new biological age tests used by, among others Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner.
What is the difference between “normal” age and biological age?
To understand how the tests themselves work, it may first be useful to have a grasp of the difference between the terms “chronological” age and “biological” age.
While chronological age—that is, the term most people think of when they hear the word—refers to how many years, months, and days you’ve spent on the planet, biological age instead refers to finding out how old your cells are.
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What are biological age tests, and how do they work?
The age test, like them The Kardashian family did in an episode of their reality show “Kardashians”are based on a process called DNA methylation, writes American NPR.
As people age, chemical tags called methyl groups lock onto the DNA, and their patterns then provide researchers with an indicator of biological age—also known as an epigenetic clock.
A test that, according to NPR, gets a lot of attention is ENABL Age – a calculation framework for estimating your biological age.
The tool allows people to answer questions about a range of things, including arm circumference, blood pressure, alcohol consumption and whether they get short of breath when climbing stairs. But there are tons of tests out there, and it’s possible to get different results depending on the type of test you choose.
The factors that can accelerate biological aging
In an interview with the newspaper Women’s Health tells Steve Horvath, the researcher who pioneered the age tests, that there are certain factors that can speed up the epigenetic clock.
These include smoking, an unhealthy diet, a sedentary lifestyle and “pretty much any lifestyle factor that’s obviously bad for you,” says Horvart.
Which factors can instead slow down aging? Well, according to Horvart, things like a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, a healthy body weight, and regular exercise can all help moderate methylation.
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Do the age tests really work?
In another interview, also this time with Women’s Healthpoints out the women’s health expert Jennifer Wider that these tests are not yet approved by any major medical organization and it is difficult to say how legitimate they are.
– Depending on who you ask, these tests can be onto something or they can be a complete waste of time, she says and continues:
– Because so many people are jumping on the bandwagon, there are thousands of these tests available.
According to Wider, the claim that 50 would be the new 30 is not denied – but rather that the biological age tests could just as well have shown 35, 39, or 42 instead.
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