A few weeks ago, I took a break from work to spit into poop, then mailed it to Elysium Health, a company that promised—for $300—the search for an important secret: when I’d die.
Or, technically speaking, my biological age. Compared to chronological age, “biological age” may better reflect how resistant your body is to father time. Biological age depends on chemical markers, or epigenetic changes, that affect how genes are expressed. Because epigenetic changes accumulate over time, they may show how quickly we age. In recent years, scientists have used machine learning and algorithms to identify epigenetic changes that reveal the most about the aging process.
Several companies offer vital age tests. But heaven, called indexcaught my attention because it provides specific biologic ages for the heart, brain, kidneys, and six other bodily systems, Any age at different rates. The index was developed by Elysium with epigenetics expert Morgan Levine and takes advantage of new technology that looks at many sites of epigenetic changes, says CEO Eric Marcotulli. “We think it is more accurate and repeatable than any other watches out there,” he says. luck.
This includes the previous version of the Elysium Index, which provided a lifetime of 1 year, rather than a system specific lifetime. I got it back in 2020, and my bio age is 4 years younger than my actual age. This score seems to reflect my choices of nutritious foods and my regular tennis play; Diet and exercise are two keys to healthy aging.
But one big factor has changed since 2020: I’ve shifted my career path from policymaking to editing and writing, roles that give me a greater sense of purpose but also inspire longer and harder work. How has having more purpose and more pressure at work affected my vital age?
Research shows that life purpose supports longevity. “In general, people with a higher goal have better walking speeds, better grip strength, and better lung function” as they age.
On the other hand, striving for perfection in one’s profession can cause a lot of stress, and it does destructive to health. In an old political job, when my boss was assigning an assignment, he would sometimes recommend, apologetically, “Don’t kill yourself on this one.” I happily complied. However, these days I take fewer shortcuts and often work late into the evening. Then I flip through the Tennis Channel for an hour of recovering vegetation before bed.
“There’s a lot of evidence to support that stress speeds up your aging process,” says Sutin. but purposeful She explains that stress is unique. with some notable ExceptionsPeople with a big goal handle their stress better. Partly, Sutin says, this is because they see it as necessary to an important goal. Stressors become unbearable when we cannot control them or find meaning in them – such as child abuse.Driving faster genetic aging.
Stress is not the only consideration. Highly motivated people with desk jobs, like me, sit with their computers all day, and that’s possible It is more harmful to health than smoking. Based on her research, Soutine believes that many dedicated workers are ultimately not stable. “People with determination need a certain amount of activity to get things done,” she says.
In my case, the index will provide the last word. Or maybe not. Daniel Belsky, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, says genetic tests have measurement errors. In large groups, these tests are useful for tracking how lifestyle changes, eg Calorie restrictioneffect of aging. The margin of error becomes less significant when it is spread out among thousands of people. But “we don’t know if any of these measures are ready for individual level analysis,” says Belsky.
He developed one of these scales, Dunedinbees, which is based on research of more than 1,000 people born in the late 70s, and looks closely at how their bodies age over time. “Do you get some information from it? Maybe,” Bielski says. “Tests such as the Dunedin and Levin (measurements) have far fewer technical errors than several other tests. But all of these tests share the same limitation for use with individuals.”
The new technology was searched for in the index published in nature aging, and Marcotulli says its age measurements are “accurate to 1” and actionable — valid and useful for any given person, not just across groups. The index uses the sites of epigenetic changes that correspond to the most relevant blood measures for each of the nine systems, such as ALT for the liver, explains Leonard Guarente, MIT biologist and chief scientist and co-founder of Elysium. Since these blood metrics are affected by our daily habits, each indicator number “will be associated with health status that can be altered and influenced by lifestyle,” says Guarente.
The nine systems do not cover everything. Future versions of the index will capture more aspects of aging, and this is where we’re starting to get into personalized medicine, says Marcutoli.
When I got my results, my total biological age was lower than my actual age, as in 2020. But a few of my system ages were higher, as was my hormone system, including glands like the thyroid and pancreas.
These glands are affected by stress. Instead of looking for easier jobs to get on the path of old age, I asked my seven-year-old for guidance. He often sees things more clearly than I do. He told me: “Perhaps work is more important to you than living a long time.”
Maybe, but I’m not ready to accept either/or suggestion. In that spirit, here are expert tips for relieving the stress of working towards healthy aging:
Cultivate optimism. Optimistic peopleAccording to research by Luina Lee, a Boston University psychologist, it is either by nature or as an evolving trait. “They have more flexible profiles for responding to acute cardiovascular stress,” Lee says.
A new study led by researchers from Harvard University found that optimistic people have Epigenetic changes associated with reduced risk of age-related diseases. Try to look on the bright side at work. It can go a long way.
achieve optimal stress. It’s key to determining optimal stress levels, says Sotin. According to the Yerkes-Dodson LawEveryone has the perfect amount of pressure that brings out their best work. Exceeding this threshold increases anxiety and undermines performance.
You can manage work stress by having fun contemplation, small breaks, and vacations. Lee suggested another strategy: exercise your hormones, purposefully exposing yourself to stressors, like a freezing cold shower, to strengthen your stress response.
self evaluation. Besides vital age, other measures of health and age-related stress are backed by decades of research, Belsky says. One The hallmark of agingInflammation, through common C-reactive protein blood tests. Inflammation is one of the nine index systems, with epigenetic age tracking data from blood tests, but basic numbers can also be useful.
Then there’s blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin, lung function measurements, etc. — the list goes on, and it gets complicated. Together, these procedures make “a very good toolkit” but “require a great deal of expertise to interpret,” Belsky says.
Heart rate variability, which reflects stress when measured with affordable sensors, is more easily accessible. When the stress of work drops my heart rate, I take more short breaks, and among these other measures, vital age is something to consider. With more data, Belsky says, these tests will continue to improve, and we’ll learn more about their accuracy in individuals. Until then, don’t shy away from the very useful work. If followed in the right way, your career can add years of healthy living.