A recently published study shows that biological aging is linked to both mental and physical health. Furthermore, masculinity,Obesity and depressioninfluence the aging processes. Therefore, people of the same chronological age may not age at the same rate.
What factors cause biological aging?
Scientists use biology to more accurately measure how quickly people age. One factor is the length of an individual's telomeres, stretches of DNA and proteins at the ends of chromosomes, which shorten with age. An epigenetic clock, meanwhile, studies changes in gene function that do not alter the genetic code or genome. Another aging clock is based on transcriptomes, a collection of all gene readings in a cell. Scientists also measure age using metabolomics, the study of the chemical processes involvedMetabolites involved in the bloodare. These are small molecules that are produced by and during metabolic processes. In addition, science uses proteomics research, which measures protein levels in the blood. For this new study, researchers wanted to learn whether a composite biological clock outperforms individual biological clocks in predicting health. They used blood samples from 2,981 people aged 18 to 65 who were tested for depression and anxiety.
The team used computer modeling to examine whether five measures of biological aging were related to each other and to mental and physical health. The researchers then included the five indicators in an analysis that also included gender, lifestyle factors, physical abilities and known health conditions. They found that masculinity was associated with more advanced biological aging according to four of the five biological clock measurements. This is consistent with the understanding that women outlive men in most places. Other factors associated with more advanced biological aging according to at least four of the five measures were: high body mass index, smoking and metabolic syndrome. The researchers also discovered that biological aging is linked to depression. In the meantime, the researchers were able to...this studyconclude that some biological clocks exhibit overlap. However, most seem to track different aspects of the aging process.
