Did you know that we all have two ages? Our chronological age, which goes up year by year on our birthday, and our biological age, which can increase or decrease depending on how healthy we are. Biological age is calculated by examining “biomarkers” of ageing in your body and its DNA. Things like having a poor diet and smoking can speed the process up, and when your body is ageing faster than it should, it leaves you more susceptible to diseases and an early death.
Luckily, there’s plenty you can do to turn back the clock. KEEP MUSCLES MIGHTY: A study published in The Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle found that muscle weakness is associated with accelerated biological ageing . Specifically, the weaker your grip strength (a measure for overall strength capacity), the older your biological age.
The good news? Age-related loss of muscle mass can be substantially reversed by resistance training, and it’s never too late to start, even in your 90s, says Andrew Steele, author of Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old (£10.99, Bloomsbury). “A two-month programme of resistance training nearly doubled muscle strength for people in their 90s, and increased their walking speed by 50 per cent,” he says.
Doing squats, lunges and press-ups, plus using dumbbells and resistance bands, can all help build muscle. BUILD YOUR BONES: Bone density peaks as early as our late 20s before beginning a slow, steady decline, says Dr Peter Attia, author of Outl.