Your age is a number. Your Biological Age is a choice.
What is my biological age?
Scientists refer to biological age as how old a person seems. Currently the most accurate way to measure biological age is with epigenetics. This means that your age is NOT just a number. Your age is whatever you choose to make it.
Epi-what?
Unlike your genetics that is fixed from birth and leaves you powerless. Stuck in the back seat. Epigenetics puts you in back in control. In the driver’s seat and ready to take on the world.
Want to know your biological age?
Well now you can! Scientists at Chronomics have created a simple spit test that lets you measure YOUR personal biological age AND what aspects of your life you should focus on to improve your age.
How can I improve my age?
Here are 6 simple and proven ways to improve your biological age. Stop being judged by a boring number!
Step 1. Live smoke-free
One of the largest factors that affects Biological age is smoke exposure. Smoking is bad but second-hand exposure is not much better. Studies have shown that smoking affects your epigenetics. Excitingly, scientists have shown that upon reducing exposure to smoke these scores can reverse. Amazingly, this reversal can start to be seen within 3 months! Epigenetically speaking it is never too late to quit.
Step 2. If you must, drink in moderation
Heavy drinking can seriously reduce your lifespan. Epigenetics is a very reliable biomarker of alcohol consumption. There are 144 different sites that identify who is a heavy drinker. The good news is a sustained abstinence can reverse many of the Epigenetic changes that occur with chronic alcohol abuse. Even moderate drinking within government guidelines will show up in you Epigenetics, though to a much lesser state.
Step 3. Push yourself
Keep active! Regular exercise will improve your health and fitness and increase your longevity. Not only does exercise improve physical health, it also has many beneficial implications for mental health too! It’s never too early to take up a new exercise routine, whether it’s jumping on a bike or putting on some trainers. Excitingly, you can now keep tabs on the improvements exercise has on your Epigenetics and can check out the impact on your biological age.
Step 4. Don’t carry more than you have to!
Eat a healthy, balanced diet. Strain on your body through carrying excess weight increases Biological Age. Excess weight increases your chances of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. These risks are further elevated in obese people. So what can be done? Fad diets are never the answer. The best way is through sustainable changes to diet and exercise, as encouraged by the NHS. Your body will thank you!
Step 5. Forget beauty sleep, bring on the biological-age-rejuvenating slumber!
A good night’s sleep is an absolute priority. We spend more than 30% of our lives asleep. This makes sleep incredibly important. Not sleeping enough can affect Biological Age and put us at risk of high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes. It turns out that like smoking, not getting sleep alters your Epigenetics. Previous studies have shown that even ONE NIGHT of sleep deprivation caused Epigenetic changes to occur. Zzzzzzzz.
Step 6. Minfulness is key to a long and healthy life
Be present and listen to your body. Stress and trauma affect our bodies in a multitude of ways. Our minds are so intertwined with our bodies that the impact stress can cause is often overlooked. For instance, depression, anxiety and obesity are all associated with stress.
Welcome to the “age” of knowledge.
