Younger or Older than Your Driver’s License?: Chronological Age as Compared to Biological Age

Posted on May 10, 2023

“It turns out feeling younger than your age may not be entirely in your head. Developing research claims that your biological age may indeed be younger (or older) than the age on your driver’s license. And there may be simple solutions to help you reverse your biological age (by a small amount) and improve your overall health and wellness.”

A March 31, 2023, article by L’Oréal Thompson Payton on aging caught my attention. Chronological age is straightforward based on your date of birth – a determining factor for eligibility to vote or for retirement benefits. On the other hand, biological age refers to the cellular and molecular level of each of our bodies.

“It turns out feeling younger than your age may not be entirely in your head. Developing research claims that your biological age may indeed be younger (or older) than the age on your driver’s license. And there may be simple solutions to help you reverse your biological age (by a small amount) and improve your overall health and wellness.”[1]

So, while your chronological age reflects the number of birthdays you’ve celebrated, biological age measures how well your body is functioning based on genetics, lifestyle, and environmental exposures. That means there is more flexibility, which is both good and bad in terms of being able to shave years off your chronological age or speed things up by feeling older due to poor health.

Biological age is often determined using biomarkers such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, body composition, organ function, and other factors. “When you go back to thinking about hypertension and diabetes and that sort of thing, people who have these diseases are aging faster than their chronological age,” says Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, an expert in epigenetics and aging and author of Younger You.[i]

Ways to assess your biological age include:

1. High blood pressure is a sign of aging and is associated with a higher risk of heart disease, stroke and other age-related health problems.

2. High levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and low levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol can be a sign of aging and an increased risk of heart disease.

3. Measuring body fat percentage and muscle mass provides insight into overall health.

4. Measuring organ function, including liver and kidneys, also provides insight into overall physical health and health risks.

5. Measuring the length of your telomeres, the protective caps at the end of each chromosome shorten as people age.

6. Assessment of DNA methylation patterns, available through genetic testing, can also be used to predict age-related disease risk and overall biological age.

There are also online quizzes and calculators that claim to estimate biological age based on numerous biomarkers. However, these tools are not always accurate and should be used with caution. The best way to get an accurate assessment is through a study of epigenetic data using DNA collected from saliva, blood, or other tissue.

The first reliable epigenetic clock was developed in 2013 by Steve Horvath, a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. His findings determined that multiple tissue types could be used to calculate a person’s biological age.

Since then, several at-home tests have hit the market, ranging in price from $75 to $500. Of all the tests, only myDNAge is based on Horvath’s epigenetic age clock.

Results from the at-home tests, which are most often available after two to six weeks, typically include information about your metabolic health, genetics, and other risk factors for age-related diseases. Because the tests aren’t independently evaluated, accuracy may vary across racial and ethnic groups; however, they can be a good place to start.[ii]

Some lifestyle changes shown to impact biological age positively include maintaining a healthy diet, engaging in regular physical activity, getting enough sleep, reducing stress, avoiding tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption, and maintaining social connections.

It is said it is never too late to start implementing diet and lifestyle changes to positively impact biological age. Even small changes made later in life can still have a significant impact on health and longevity.

It’s important to remember that everyone’s individual health situation and health needs are different, thus the reminder of the importance of working with a healthcare provider or registered dietitian to develop a personalized plan for making lifestyle changes.

[i]L'OREAL THOMPSON PAYTON, March 31, 2023. https://fortune.com/well/2023/02/09/what-is-my-biological-age/ [i] Ibid.

[ii] Ibid

[iii] ibid
.