Your Body Has Two Ages. One of Them You Can Actually Change.
You have a chronological age, which is simply the number of years you have been alive. But you also have a biological age, and the two do not always match. Biological age reflects how your body is actually functioning at a cellular and systemic level, and it turns out this number can run ahead of or behind your chronological age depending on how you live.
This is not a new idea, but the research behind it is becoming significantly more compelling. A study presented earlier this year at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, led by researchers at Yale School of Medicine, looked at data from more than 258,000 participants in the UK Biobank. The researchers used a measure called KDmAge, which is derived from 18 routine blood biomarkers, to calculate biological age and track how it changed over time.
What they found was that people whose biological age was running ahead of their chronological age, a state the researchers call biological age acceleration, showed poorer brain MRI profiles, worse cognitive performance, and a significantly higher risk of stroke over the following decade.
But the more encouraging part of the findings was this: people who improved their biological age gap over the follow-up period showed meaningful gains in brain health. They had less white matter damage, better markers of small vessel health, and a reduced risk of both any stroke and ischemic stroke. In other words, the brain appeared to respond to improvements in biological ageing, and it responded in ways that could be measured on a scan years later.
The researchers concluded that biological ageing should be understood as a modifiable pathway to preserving brain health, not simply an inevitable backdrop to getting older.
It shifts the conversation away from things we cannot control and towards the daily habits that appear to genuinely make a difference.
What Actually Moves the Needle
There is no single test that gives you your biological age, and no single intervention that fixes it. But the picture emerging from the research is fairly consistent about what helps.
Doctors and researchers point to a cluster of lifestyle factors that appear to support healthier biological ageing. These include eating a varied, nutrient-rich diet; exercising regularly; keeping your brain active and engaged; staying on top of routine medical care; managing blood sugar levels; keeping cholesterol in a healthy range; prioritising sleep; avoiding smoking; limiting alcohol; and staying socially connected.
That last one is worth pausing on, given what we looked at last week. Social connection is not just good for your mood. It appears to be genuinely protective at a biological level, which makes it an important part of this picture rather than a soft addition to it.
What the research keeps suggesting, however, is that consistency with the basics, over time, is where the real benefit lies. Biological age is not fixed in your 20s and left to tick forward. It is something your body is continuously recalibrating based on the signals you send it.
If you want to read more about natural ways to support brain health beyond diet and lifestyle, we have explored some well-researched botanicals in this week’s featured article here: Botanicals for Brain Health
A Reader Note Worth Sharing
After last week’s newsletter on social connection, a reader called Sue wrote in and I have not stopped thinking about it since. Sue is 75, has been a member of her local u3a since 2012, and describes it as one of the best decisions she has ever made. The u3a, which stands for University of the Third Age, is a network of over 1,000 community groups across the UK offering learning, activities and social connection to people who are no longer in full-time work. The strap line says it all: Learn, Laugh, Live.
Her local branch in Wyre Forest has over 1,000 members. And among their activities? Tending the gardens at Kidderminster Railway Station, which they adopted five years ago. Sue told me she was heading there on the morning she wrote to me, and this nicely pulls together two of the strands we’ve been talking about recently.
She called the u3a the best-kept secret that needs to get out there, and I think she is absolutely right. It is exactly the kind of meaningful, regular, purposeful connection that the research points to, combining the social side with mental engagement and physical activity in one. The brain benefits stack up in every direction.
If you are not already a member or know someone who might benefit, it is well worth a look. www.u3a.org.uk
