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New research has pinpointed the exact age when cell aging accelerates.
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Many organs start to age faster around the time you’re 50.
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There are a few things you can do to slow the process, according to doctors.
For years, the generally accepted view of aging is that it’s a process that happens gradually over time. But a study published in the journal Nature Aging last year suggested that aging happens in spurts instead of at a steady pace. Now, there’s new research that supports the idea that aging isn’t linear—and researchers have identified a new timeframe for when aging tends to accelerate.
For the study, which was published in the journal Cell, researchers analyzed blood and tissue samples from 76 organ donors who were between the ages of 14 and 68 when they died of accidental traumatic brain injury. The tissue samples looked at these systems in the body: cardiovascular, digestive, immune, endocrine, respiratory, skin, and muscular.
Meet the experts: Melissa Batchelor, Ph.D., director of the Center for Aging, Health and Humanities at the George Washington University School of Nursing; Bert Mandelbaum, M.D., co-director of the Regenerative Orthobiologic Center at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics in Los Angeles; John Fudyma, M.D., clinical associate professor of medicine and interim chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo
The researchers created a catalogue of the proteins that were found in these systems, looking at how the levels of these proteins changed with the donors’ age. (The proteins helped to fuel cell growth, and lower levels of the proteins suggest that cells weren’t regenerating as well as they would when people were younger.) That data was stacked against a database of diseases and associated genes to determine that the expression of 48 proteins linked to various diseases—cardiovascular diseases, fatty liver disease, liver-related tumors, and more—increased with age.
What did the study find?
Based on the findings, the biggest changes happened between the ages of 45 and 55. During this time, many of the tissues showed major changes. The most drastic happened in the aorta (the main artery that carries blood away from your heart to the rest of your body), along with the pancreas and spleen.
The researchers ultimately concluded that there is an “aging inflection” around age 50, “with blood vessels being a tissue that ages early and is markedly susceptible to aging.”
What does this mean?
The researchers didn’t dive into why 50 was the sweet spot—they simply found that aging seems to accelerate in some organs and bodily systems around this time.
“We don’t really understand if it’s genetic, inflammatory…we don’t know why this seems to happen around age 50,” says John Fudyma, M.D., clinical associate professor of medicine and interim chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. What the study does show is the key proteins that are needed for normal cellular function tend to decline around age 50, he says.
Hormonal changes may play a role, says Melissa Batchelor, Ph.D., director of the Center for Aging, Health and Humanities at the George Washington University School of Nursing. “By the time you’re 50, you’re starting to go through hormonal shifts,” she says. “Your muscle mass declines, your metabolism declines—but all of that is part of the natural aging process.”
The study was relatively small, and it didn’t necessarily prove that everyone goes through these changes at the same time, points out Bert Mandelbaum, M.D., co-director of the Regenerative Orthobiologic Center at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics in Los Angeles. He stresses that the aging process is highly individual.
“There are two really important things that people have to understand about aging,” he says. “One is genomics—what are your genes?—and the other part is what you do to those genes.” While your genes lay out the foundation for how you will age, your lifestyle habits can influence these in a positive or negative way, Dr. Mandelbaum says. “That’s really the key thing,” he adds.
Batchelor agrees. “Everybody varies in how quickly they’re going to see those changes,” she says. “A lot depends on lifestyle. If you’re a person who has not-so-great lifestyle habits, you will age faster than someone who has better habits.” So, tweaking your habits may go a long way in prolonging this inflection point.
How to live a longer, healthier life
Experts stress that your lifestyle choices are crucial for aging in a healthy way. “Aging well isn’t as much of a crapshoot as people think it is,” Batchelor says. “It’s really about having small, healthy habits that you build into your daily life.”
Doctors suggest focusing on these moves for healthy aging:
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Get seven-plus hours of sleep. This recommended amount can help your best rest, supporting your overall health in the process, Batchelor says.
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Stay physically active. Doing what you can to be active throughout your day is crucial, Batchelor says. “Sitting is the new smoking,” she says. “Make sure you’re not sitting too much.”
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Incorporate strength training into your exercise routine. “This is really important as our hormones and muscle mass change,” Batchelor says.
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Follow a healthy diet. “It goes back to the basics: Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet with minimally processed foods,” Dr. Fudyma says.
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Try to manage stress. This is easier said than done, but doing what you can to manage the stress in your life will help support your mental and physical health, Dr. Fudyma says.
Ultimately, Dr. Mandelbaum stresses that “you are what you eat, drink, think, and do.” But he also points out the importance of focusing on your overall health—not just zeroing in on one or two areas of it and slacking on the rest. “You have to have this overall, comprehensive approach to health,” he says. “Your body is responsive to the good or bad you give it.”
While aging will continue to happen if you’re lucky, Batchelor says it’s important to do what you can to live a healthy lifestyle to support your longevity. “Decline and decay is not an inevitable part of aging,” she says.
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