10 Tips to Reverse Aging & Improve Your Biological Age

Your age influences many things about your life: your wage packet, insurance premiums, dating habits, even your TV tastes and holiday preferences. But it reveals surprisingly little about your personal health, fitness, vulnerability to injury and illness, or cognitive function.

What really matters, according to a growing number of health experts, is your “biological age” – how your body is functioning relative to your calendar age.

Also known as “health age”, or sometimes more specifically as “heart age” or “fitness age”, this vital statistic can reveal if you have the health of a marathon-running, blueberry-eating teenager or a bed-bound 65-year-old pensioner.

“You only have to look at school reunion photos to see that we don’t all age at the same rate,” says Sean Lerwill, a personal trainer with a degree in molecular genetics. “You can see who is keeping healthy and who is aging early.”

Obvious signs of a higher health age are excess body fat or muscle wastage, which trigger a premature risk of age-related problems like heart disease and impaired physical function.

But other markers of age-associated decline, from reduced lung capacity and heart health to low bone density and cognitive decline, are less visible – and if you have them, even if you have a relatively young calendar age, you’re more vulnerable to everything from diabetes and Alzheimer’s to osteoporosis.

Research published in the US Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences journal showed that young people of the same chronological age vary in their biological age long before midlife, with those with an “older” health age already suffering a decline in physical and cognitive performance.

Knowing your biological age can help slash this risk, by verifying if you are aging well or inspiring you to rewind the clock.

Training

1. Up your weights-to-cardio ratio

“I recommend doing two or three weights sessions for every cardio session,” says Lerwill. “Resistance training prevents muscle wastage, triggers biological reactions that help to remove free radicals and oxidative stress, and increases blood flow.”

It also boosts growth hormone, which helps you retain bone-building calcium and fat-burning muscle as you age. A study in the journal Obesity confirmed that people who lift weights have less visceral fat – which is linked to age-related problems like heart disease and diabetes - than those who just do cardio.

2. Do hormone-boosting lifts

“You don’t lose muscle because you get older; you lose it because you stop using it,” says Lerwill. “Compound moves like squats, deadlifts, bench presses and pull-ups are best for reversing the clock.”

After the age of 40, you can lose eight percent of muscle mass every decade, slowing your metabolism and weakening your body, so cement good habits early.

Compound lifts also increase your production of testosterone, and research in the Journal Of Clinical Endocrinology And Metabolism has linked reduced testosterone to an elevated risk of heart disease.

3. HIIT pause with cardio sessions

Research by the Mayo Clinic has shown that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) slows cellular ageing by boosting the regeneration of mitochondria (your body’s energy-producing powerhouses) by up to 69 percent.

It also enhances lung, heart and circulation health to keep your body young.

“Cardio sessions like spin classes, sprints or CrossFit classes will keep your weight down and strengthen your heart and lungs,” adds Lerwill.

4. Endure with endurance training

Cycling, running or other endurance training will keep you feeling young. A study in the journal Aging Cell showed that long-distance cyclists enjoyed better cholesterol levels and retained more T-cells (the immune system’s disease-fighting soldiers) into old age.

Weight-bearing exercise also boosts bone health to fight off osteoporosis.

5. Bend the rules of time

“To lower your body’s age you need to stay supple,” says Lerwill. “Dynamic flexibility training in your warm-up or before breakfast is great; use yoga, dynamic flow or animal flow exercises to keep your hips and joints open.

Sitting at a desk is terrible for our posture but these exercises fight the bad habits which age you.

” Try doing stretches throughout your working day: University of California research found that routinely sitting for ten hours a day increases your biological age by eight years.

6. Rein yourself in

A heavy one-rep max day or brutal CrossFit class is fine but not every session should be a pain-fest. “Hammering yourself every day creates cortisol and stress responses so your central nervous system takes a beating,” says Lerwill.

Your exercise should be regular – 40 minutes, five days a week will cut your biological age by nine years, according to Brigham Young University – but moderate exercise is fine: a study by Appalachian State University showed that moderate-intensity resistance training is as good as hypertensive medication at lowering blood pressure.

Nutrition

7. Eat more Omega 3s

“Aim to eat foods that have a natural anti-inflammatory action,” says nutritionist Angelique Panagos. “Good fats like omega 3 fatty acids get broken down into anti-inflammatory chemicals in the body, which helps keep your cells at a good age. You get them from oily fish, olive oil, raw nuts, seeds and avocado.”

Research by Japan’s National Centre for Global Health and Medicine suggested that a traditional Japanese diet high in omega 3-rich fish delivers a 15 percent lower mortality rate.

8. Be more European

A study in the British Journal Of Nutrition suggested that changing to a Mediterranean-style diet of fish, vegetables, wholegrain and unrefined carbohydrates – even later in life – brings a 25 percent reduction in all-cause mortality.

Research in the journal Neurology has also shown that following this diet helps you retain brain volume to ward off dementia and memory loss.

9. Spice up your life

“Ginger and turmeric help with reducing inflammation in the body,” says Panagos. Research by the University of Miami shows that ginger has an anti-inflammatory effect on cells, while a study in the Saudi Medical Journal suggests a daily dose can improve cholesterol levels.

Curcumin, found in turmeric, also has anti-inflammatory properties, according to a report in Advances In Experimental Medicine And Biology.

10. Follow your gut instinct

Your gut is a key part of your body’s immune system so arm yourself against disease and infection with immunity-boosting foods.

“Your gut flora is the basis of good health, so aim for things that maintain it like garlic, onion, artichokes, oats and fermented foods like sauerkraut,” suggests Panagos.