Rejuvenate your biological clock by following eight key habits for healthy living.
Adopting eight healthy habits, known as the “Life’s Essential 8 checklist”, established by the American Heart Association (AHA), can potentially extend a person’s biological age, thus promoting prolonged well-being.
These recommendations include 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week, a balanced diet rich in vegetables, nuts and lean protein, and abstinence from smoking.
The list of eight healthy habits also advocates getting between seven and nine hours of sleep each night, maintaining a healthy weight and keeping cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure levels under control.
A study led by Columbia University’s Nour Makarem and her team, which will be presented at the AHA Scientific Meetings in Philadelphia, finds that following these habits not only improves heart health, but can also slow down the biological aging process.
Scientists assessed how well more than 6,500 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) followed these eight healthy habits.
The research was based on the fact that participants self-reported whether they followed recommendations for diet, exercise, smoking and sleep, while their weight, cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure were measured.
What did the research show?
Makarem’s team also calculated their phenotypic age, an indication of biological age determined by measuring levels of body chemicals involved in metabolism, inflammation and organ function, such as glucose and creatinine.
Phenotypic age gives a more comprehensive picture of how a person ages internally, while chronological age is based solely on the number of years a person has lived, explains Emma Stanmore of the University of Manchester, who was not involved in the study.
The study found that those who reported the best adherence to the checklist had a biological age that was, on average, six years younger than their chronological age. However, those with the worst adherence had an average biological age four years older than their chronological age.
Makarem emphasizes the multiple benefits of following the checklist, such as increasing disease-free years and reducing the risk of premature death. She suggests that even gradual lifestyle changes can significantly affect heart health and slow biological aging.
Look into the future
With further research, Stanmore says, doctors could track someone’s adherence to this checklist to assess the rate of biological aging as well as heart health, encouraging early intervention and prevention.
However, Stanmore adds that the NHANES database only captures a snapshot of people’s health information.
Longitudinal data, collected by measuring the same people repeatedly over a longer period, will provide more insight into trends and changes over time, she believes.
