We just discovered that we age in two quick bursts. The first is around 44 years old, and the second is around 60[1]. There might be a third burst around 78.
It turns out that the aging process is not slow and uniform, but there are at least two points in our lives when aging significantly accelerates. During these phases, we might notice a sudden increased wrinkling of skin, deterioration of eyesight, and aches, almost as if they appear overnight. It was already seen earlier that around these two points in people’s lives, cardiovascular disease, and musculoskeletal problems come to light. Around the age of 60, there is an increase in diagnoses of memory loss diseases like Alzheimer's.
This prompted the new study, which tracked thousands of people aged 25 to 75 and discovered significant changes in their biology around the ages of 44 and 60. One hundred thirty-five thousand molecules, like RNA, metabolites, and proteins, were assessed, as well as the makeup of the microbiome that lives inside of people and on our skin, like bacteria, fungi, and viruses. There were dramatic and sudden changes around these two points in people’s lives everywhere the scientists looked.
While the spike in aging around the age of 60 was already expected, the spike around the age of 44 is a surprise. Initially, it was thought that it might come mainly from menopause, which happens only to women. However, men also experience hormonal changes around the same age, just to a lesser degree. This suggests that menopause and hormonal changes are just one of the many biological shifts that happen as we age in the middle of our fifth decade, and they affect both women and men almost equally.
The changes observed were linked to cardiovascular health, the immune system, metabolism, and kidney function. The third type was most visible outwardly and concerned skin aging and musculature.
There are also some indications that there might be a third sudden burst of accelerated aging around the age of 78. However, further research will need to be carried out to confirm this, as the oldest participants in this particular study were only 75 years old.
These new insights might lead to targeted therapies to delay aging in various age groups. Proper body maintenance, such as doing sports, maintaining the right diet, and refraining from certain factors that can accelerate the rate of aging, like smoking or drinking, can delay some aspects of getting old.
The question was: How do we age?
Footnotes
[1] Nonlinear dynamics of multi-omics profiles during human aging - Nature Aging
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