Whenever we think or read our age, we give it in years. However, in order to tell exactly how old our bodies are, we should stick to another method. Our age and biological age differ and we’re going to show you how to calculate it.
Our bodies have a biological and chronological age – the chronological tells how long we’ve been alive, while the biological tells us how old our bodies are. The biological age can be determined in a few ways, but it seems that the best one is examining the length of telomeres (protective chromosome ends) in our bodies. The telomeres protect the chromosomes from merging with other chromosomes and also play a role in the longevity of our cells.
According to Dr. Terry Grossman from the Denver-based Grossman Wellness Center, whenever a cell divides itself, a telomere bead falls off from the chromosome end and this may be a factor for our biological age. The longer we live, the shorter our telomeres are. However, as we don’t have the medical equipment at home in order to detect the longevity of our telomeres, there’s a simpler way to tell our biological age at home.
How to test your biological age at home
There are a few exercises you can try in order to tell how old you really are. First, stand upright and bend down at the hips, then try reaching the floor with your hands. If you can touch the floor with your hands or keep your legs straight, your body is 25-30 years old, which is great. If you touch the floor with a slight bend of your knees, your body is 35-38 years old.
If you managed to touch your toes with your fingertips with your knees bent, your body and muscle flexibility is the same as a person aged 40-50. Finally, if you can’t bend to touch the floor or your feet without bending your knees at an extreme, your biological age is over 50.
The good news is that there is a way of improving the flexibility. Regular stretching will allow you to improve the function of your muscles and strengthen them. This can be done by regular exercise and eating a healthy and balanced diet that can maintain a nice telomere length and help you live longer.
Source:besthealthyguide.com
Binu
I have read about telomeres and find the research fascinating. Thank you for having a show on the topic. Would you please provide credible sources for telomere testing. A company called Teloyears is advertising telomere testing. How do we know which companies are reputable? Thanks.