Five health factors that can affect your biological age

As the average life expectancy age creeps up, aging well into our 70s, 80s and beyond isn’t entirely beyond the scope of possibility.

Understanding how diet and lifestyle can impact how your body ages can help you to make the kinds of choices than will support a better quality of life.

While medical breakthroughs continue to revolutionise healthcare, there are some factors within our control that can seriously affect how well a person’s body ages.

Here, FEMAIL takes a look at the five things you need to consider that can contribute to premature aging, and the lifestyle choices you can make to alter these.

THE ROLE OF DIET IN HEALTHY AGING

Choosing a diet that supports healthy aging often means taking into account how our body physically changes over time, and what it needs in order to function well.

New research published by Deakin University has revealed that the Mediterranean type-diet is especially effective for maintaining health as we start to age. 

The seasonal-based diet, which contains at least three serves of vegetables a day, as well as an increase in lean protein has been shown to support muscle health and strength, mental function, anxiety and cardiovascular disease.

The study’s author, Professor Nowson said: ‘We found that older people eating a Mediterranean type diet that contains a variety of fruits and vegetables, olive oil daily and nuts, are more likely to have less chronic disease as they age, less likely to have a stroke or heart attack and less likely to become frail and more likely to remain cognitively alert.’

A new study has shown the Mediterranean diet can maintain a better quality of health as we age

Nutritionist and author of Supercharged Food Lee Holmes also believes diet plays a key role in health and well-being as we age.

Lee explained how some foods can act as ‘aging accelerators’ and can have a direct impact on the aging process because they cause issues with digestion, gut inflammation and oxidation in the body.

‘When your gut becomes sluggish the body doesn’t absorb nutrients very well so this results in different areas of your body such as your skin, nails, hair and muscles becoming undernourished.’

Other studies have revealed how cutting down, or completely eliminating sugar, especially sugary soft drinks, can seriously help with the physical signs of aging.

Speaking to Daily Mail previously, Dr Patricia Harris said research showed that a diet laced with sugar and refined carbohydrates can be more ageing for the skin than a lifetime of lying in the sun. 

‘The link between sugar and premature ageing lies in a process called ‘glycation’. This chemical process happens when blood sugar levels become excessively high.’ 

 ‘Cutting out sugar immeasurably improves your skin and vitality,’ she said. 

Too much sugar can speed up the aging process and can be as damaging to the skin as spending too much time in the sun

Other issues to be aware of with aging and diet include tracking cholesterol levels. 

In Australia fifteen per cent of adults aged 35 to 44 have high cholesterol and the incidence rises by about 5 per cent per decade.

The main risk factors for high cholesterol include a diet that is high in fat and sugars combined with a sedentary lifestyle.  

HOW STRESS CAN SPEED UP THE AGING PROCESS

As we age it’s not so much the amount of stress that affects the aging process, it’s more how we cope with stress that’s important. 

Scientists have found that stress is by far the over-riding factor when it comes to the rate at which we grow older.

Research shows stress, in particular, has a disruptive effect on telomeres – which are the tips of strands of DNA.

Telomeres stop DNA strands from fraying but when they fray, the cell stops being healthy. If it is a skin cell, it won’t function properly and it will appear aged. If it is a brain cell, it can cause memory lapse.

Though there are myriad ways to manage stress including an embrace of meditation and breathing techniques, one simple strategy when feeling overwhelmed is to slow down and reduce your pace by 25 per cent, corporate health advisor Dr Linda Friedland told Now To Love. 

‘As you slow your pace you’ll feel the stress start to lift and you’ll be able to work on tackling things.’

There are myriad ways to manage stress including an embrace of meditation and breathing techniques

 CIGARETTES AGE YOU RADICALLY FASTER

The purely cosmetic effects of smoking and aging are well documented.

The habit is tied to reduced collagen production, which damages the elasticity of the skin throughout the body, leading to sagging and wrinkly skin.

Though quitting can be difficult research has shown women who don’t give up and continue smoking into middle age lose at least 10 years of life.

Those who give up smoking before the age of 30 can avoid 97 per cent of the health risks associated with the habit, and giving up before 40 cuts the risk by 90 per cent.

‘If women smoke like men, they die like men – but, whether they are men or women, smokers who stop before reaching middle age will, on average, gain about an extra 10 years of life,’ said Sir Richard Peto, co-author of the study from the University of Oxford.

Smoking: ‘If women smoke like men, they die like men,’ said Sir Richard Peto, co-author of a study from the University of Oxford

POLLUTION IS PREMATURELY AGING

As cities become increasingly congested, the quality of the air we breathe is become seriously compromised. 

So much so scientists are now claiming traffic exhaust as the single most toxic substance for the skin. 

According to Professor Jean Krutmann, director at the Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine in Germany skin damage from pollution is now of greater concern that damage caused by UV [sun damage]

‘Now I think air pollution has the potential to keep us busy for the next few decades,’ he said.

Though Professor Krutman said other factors, such as UV exposure, nutrition and smoking contribute to ageing he noted: ‘At least for the pigment spots on the cheeks, it seems air pollution is the major driver.’

Skin damage from pollution is now of greater concern to scientists than damage caused by UV [sun damage]

EXERCISE, NOT QUITE BUT ALMOST, THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 

As we age it can become difficult to factor in a regular exercise routine: work schedules, family commitments and time for relaxation all take priority.

But scientists have found that exercise can not only slow down the aging process, it can also shave a decade off your biological age. 

The research, published in the journal Preventative Medicine surveyed 5,823 people who had participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2002. 

Those taking part were asked questions about their lifestyle, including how often they exercised.

Scientists have found that exercise can not only slow down the aging process, it can also shave a decade off your biological age

Similarly to research that showed how stress can shorted telomares, the research found longer telomare lengths were found among those who exercised regularly.

‘Overall, physical activity was significantly and meaningfully associated with telomere length in U.S. men and women,’ wrote Professor Larry Tucker from Brigham Young University.

‘Evidently, adults who participate in high levels of physical activity tend to have longer telomeres, accounting for years of reduced cellular aging compared to their more sedentary counterparts.

‘We all know people that seem younger than their actual age. The more physically active we are, the less biological aging takes place in our bodies.’