Do you know your Biological Age?

Do you know the difference between Biological Age and Physical Age?  The difference between these age factors can also be described as the difference between how old we feel, as opposed to how old we actually are.  After all, many people consider that age is just a number, and that the size of the number is not really the most important factor in life.  And I would have to agree that it is more important to focus on longevity, than to simply focus on the passing of the years!

How do you work out your Biological Age?

It seems that our biological age is a very popular search term, and that suggests that biological age is important to many people.  The reason is that for many of us who look after our health, and our fitness, and our general levels of well being, then we hope to be able to extend our lifespan.  But once again, how can this be calculated, and how can we know if we are having a positive effect on our lifespan and our health span?  The way to check in on our relative longevity is to calculate our biological age!  The calculation of biological age is made up of a whole range of lifestyle factors, which makes it a relative score, and certainly no-one can predict exactly how long they will live.  The benefit of working out your biological age is that you can certainly better understand what areas you are doing well at, and perhaps which other areas of your health and fitness you can improve upon.

What is it about our biological age that has everyone so interested?

In my opinion, I think it is because most of us want to feel younger than our actual age!  Especially for those of us that are no longer in our youth (the author included), who understand the effects of increasing age and of the markers of youth that have declined somewhat.  Understandably, the sight of those first grey hairs can cause consternation!  And those laughter lines around the eyes seem to be there whether we are smiling or not!  I understand it can be tough to smile rather than grimace when that happens to us!!

But I am sure I am not the only one who has these feelings about getting older:

• I know that we would like feel younger!
• We certainly want to look younger than our age!
• And many people want to act younger than their real age!!!  Or it seems that way sometimes!

What is the difference between Biological Age and your Physical Age?

We all know what our physical age is – even if we don’t want to admit it!  But the problem with our physical age is that it just keeps getting bigger and bigger!  There is no doubt that life seems to speed up as we get older and those years seem to tick off faster and faster every time we look around.  I am well into my 50’s now, and sometimes I can’t believe where the time has gone.  I have even run out of fingers and toes to count them on, so maybe I will stop counting now!  But seriously, there is something we can do about the rate of advancing age.  And that is why the calculation of biological age is so important, because if we can improve our health and fitness, we an actually reduce our biological age!  So the difference between Biological Age and your Physical Age is an indicator of the direction our lifestyle choices are taking us.  The goal here is make the best lifestyle choice that reduce our biological age less than our physical age!

Is your biological age less than your physical age?

Who would like to reverse their age for a few years, and count them backwards for a few years – that would make us all feel better wouldn’t it?  Well I am sorry to say that we can’t reverse our physical age, and we can’t stop the counter from clicking over every year.  But before you give up hope, there is a positive takeaway for those who want to look after their health and look after their longevity!

You might be interested to measure your biological age, and with a few lifestyle tweaks you jut might be pleasantly surprised!

How to Calculate your Biological Age

I thought I would take the plunge and see what my biological age is and whether it is better than my actual age.  I clicked over to Biological-Age.Com, and found there was a simple list of 25 or so questions to answer.  Now I know that might seem a little intimidating, but the answers are confidential, but there is no name or details required.  So I dived right in.  Actually there were no surprises, no fitness tests, no sit ups, no boot camp, no needles, no pain, nothing to worry about!  All you have to do is take the quiz with a bunch of simple questions (no real surprises here either!):

• Do you drink Alcohol (and how often, how much – be honest!)
• Do you smoke?
• What is your Diet?
• What is your Health?
• What is your Blood Pressure?
• What is your Cholesterol level?
• What is your Stress level?
• How much Exercise do you do each week?
• What is your Vocational enjoyment?
• What is your Geographical Location?
• What is your Relationship Status?

Why are these factors important for Biological Age?

Because they have a direct correlation with longevity, health, and with ongoing health outcomes in the future!  Not only are these factors a good indication of current health, and current biological age, but they also have a defining outcome on your future health.  And the last few questions might have surprised you a little, but believe it or not, happiness levels, and social connections can add years to your longevity!  The good news for me is that I have made some lifestyle changes over the last few years (including being alcohol free), and according to the calculator, I have a biological age less than 40!  Which means I have taken more than 10 years off my physical age, simply by managing a few lifestyle factors and going for a walk.  I am certainly no health and fitness fanatic, and in fact, when it comes to longevity, the experts are suggesting that you don’t need to run marathons, walking is enough!

Is your biological age less than your physical age?

So take the challenge today!  Here is the link to the biological age calculator I recommend you jump over there right now, it does not take long!  At the end of the day, this is certainly not some kind of inquisition or examination!  Nor is it a iron-clad guarantee as to how long you can live for.  This is a simple test to let you know what you are doing well, and where you could do better, especially if you want to live longer and healthier!