For most of us age is simply denoted by how many candles you get on your cake each year – however it turns out we might have a ‘biological age’ as well.
And this ‘biological age’ may well determine why some people seem to age faster than others.
A new study suggests that people can be ageing three times faster than their age suggests.
Scientists at Duke University in North Carolina looked into people genes and were able to determine how fast they were ageing.
They found that in their group of 38-year-old participants, people had biological ages ranging from 28 to 61.
The study started when the participants were 26, at which point they had their genes inspected, and then again at the age of 32, and once more at the age of 38.
Some were found to have bodies aging three times fast than their chronological ageing, while others seemingly didn’t biologically age at all.
Dr Dan Belsky, Duke University Centre for Ageing, said the study could help prevent age related diseases.
‘As we get older, our risk grows for all kinds of different diseases. To prevent multiple diseases simultaneously, ageing itself has to be the target,’ he added.
