ROLLING BACK THE YEARS
I’m 63 but my biological age is TWENTY years younger – you can turn back the clock by 3 years in 8 weeks with my tips
If you're feeling older than your years all of a sudden it could even be your fault...
IS there really a secret to eternal youth?
Dr Mark Hyman, a 63 year old who says his biological age is 20 years younger than his actual years thinks so, and he claims to know how to turn back the ageing clock.
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He was born in 1959, but said that after doing a DNA methylation test, he discovered that his biological age is just 43.
And he argued that we don't need to sit back and accept that ageing is a part of life, yet claims it really can happen overnight, specifically at the ages of 44 and 60.
It’s thought that this is the reason why major health issues affecting the heart and bones tend to turn up as unwanted gifts on specific birthdays after we hit 40.
"We don't have to accept this decline and decrepitude and frailty as normal, we can reverse that biological process and get older as we get younger", Dr Hyman told the Feel Better, Live More podcast, with Dr Rangan Chatterjee.
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He explained that our diet, sleep habits, stress levels, and the amount of exercise we do can either speed up our ageing process, or make us age slower.
Dr Mark said that longevity research has shown that if you start to live a healthier lifestyle, your body will repair and renew, its cells, and in turn, reverse ageing.
He added that signs of ageing such as frailty and heart disease are actually "abnormal processes", that result from leading an unhealthy lifestyle.
And he made another huge claim - that in just eight weeks, it is possible to reverse your biological age by three years.
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Although he's aiming even bigger.
"I'm 43 and I'm trying to get to 25", he joked.
When Dr Mark turned 60, he took up resistance training and changed his diet so that he was eating more protein and less carbohydrates.
He said making the change really helped to increase his strength.
"I saw increasing strength as I got older, which isn't usually what happens," he added.
"The body has the ability to change rapidly at any age."
He added that he has seen people in their 80s and 90s slow down their ageing process by starting to exercise.
And that some foods contain components that are important for longevity such as onions and garlic, broccoli, green tea and mushrooms.
"We can use these foods in part of our daily consumption to activate these longevity pathways and switches," he said.
Not only will making these lifestyle changes help you to live longer, Dr Mark added that they will also make you feel immediately better.
Tips to age well
There are a number of habits you can take up to care for your health and wellbeing as you age.
Age UK shared the following tips:
- Do things that you enjoy everyday - whether that's cooking, seeing friends or enjoying a good book
- Stay hydrated - drink six to eight cups of water a day
- Eat plenty of fruit and veggies to lower your risk of heart disease and certain cancers, have beans, pulses, fish, eggs and meat to repair your body after injury, starchy carbs for energy dairy to help keep bones strong
- Manage long-term health conditions to prevent them progressing or having a greater impact on your health
- Quit smoking and reduce alcohol intake to no more than 14 units a week
- Make mental health a priority and get treatment for it, as it can also impact physical health
- Make sure you're getting quality sleep
- Keep socialising - and call a friend or loved one if you can't make it out the house
- Be physically active to lower the risk of depression and dementia, heart disease, stroke, Parkinson’s and some cancers
"It's adding more life to your years, not just years to your life," he said.
Dr Mark added that a lot of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression are also affected by the foods that we eat, such as ultra-processed foods.
He said: "And we can change that, and that can give us a sense of purpose and ability to do whatever we want."
The doctor also said eliminating unhealthy foods is key.
"I think the key is to include more things that are good for us, and slowly eliminate things that are bad for us," he explained.
Dr Mark also recommended doing a ten-day detox which involves eliminating 'bad' foods entirely.
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He said that his research has revealed that in doing so, the body has chance to reset and improve.
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