I'm giving a more observational answer although there are plenty of articles available to read.
I'm querying what it means ‘to age differently.” My mother and father were not young looking people. Dad in particular was taken as older in his thirties. However by the time he died at 74 he looked better than most people his age and was certainly fit.
Mum also didn't look young but died, still living in her own home at 95.
If you take age differently it's more than just looks, it's how your body functions. Dad's body was functioning at full speed except for one rather important blood vessel in his brain which was faulty. A bit like a car with a leaky radiator hose. Unfortunately it was vital to life. So he could have lived into his mid 80s to 90s without this manufacturing fault but he didn't.
Mum however was sickly on her 60s. This was probably due to glandular fever leaving behind ongoing fatigue and diabetes II.
So when Dad passed away we thought she would not be too far behind. Instead her health if anything improved as the glandular fever receded into the past. Even the diabetes cleared up.
We then were reminded that she looked and acted very much like her father's family. None of them looked overly young in old age but they all walked, hardened, red books and kept themselves busy. Born in the 1890s to 1900s three out of five lived to their mid to late 80s.
Without smoking and with a hip and shoulder operation at 89 Mum really had no issues till her heart began failing at age 94. By 95 her body was worn out. She died of a heart attack but you could see her body was tired.
Which brings me to John (not his real name). John was born in 1926 like my Mum. Mum had good genes. John has amazing genes. He looks and acts 20 years younger than his biological age. He can drive a car, walk without a stick. Sharp as a tack is John.
While Mum aged better than most he's in a class of his own. I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up at his 110th birthday…or not. Because he may have a mechanical fault like Dad where something goes suddenly but certainly his odds are better than most.
Bell curves indicate that any one member of a species is not the same. In terms of aging, some die in their 40s of heart trouble - or would of in the old days. People like Mum would live to 89 regardless assuming the glandular fever didn't take her out. The shoulder break would have shortened her life at 89.
The Johns of this world. They've always lived a long time. He may have had an illness in his past that has been cured by modern medicine but maybe not.
I guess all that any of can do is take care of our health and age as best we can within the confines of our own genetics.
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