Time4You Fitness Blog: Chronological Age versus Biological Age

Aging Redefined

I once heard a very wise saying which went something like:

“Don’t let an old person move into your body”.

I really took this advice to heart. I truly believe that “rather than letting age define you, you can redefine what aging means”

For example, I am 50 years old yet I feel like I’m 20!

This is true on so many levels from a psychological as well as physical standpoint.

The Fountain Of Youth?

It's often said that “Exercise is the fountain of youth”, and while in many respects this is true, it’s an incomplete statement. It would be more accurate to say that a healthy “lifestyle” is the fountain of youth.

This lifestyle must include exercise, but also nutrition, proper rest and trying to avoid putting substances in your body that will have a "toxic" effect on your health.

I would also put “toxic thoughts” into the category of things that need to be limited as much as possible as well!

Aging and Exercise

Although I stated above the importance of an overall healthy lifestyle, I would like to focus specifically on the role exercise itself can play as an extremely potent positive force. Below are some bullet points I've organized based on information from the ACE Personal Trainer Manual, 3rd edition:

Quality of life may be measured by the individual’s ability to perform activities of daily living.

While someone may be 65 years of age (chronological age), they may have a biological age of 45 based on their fitness and health status. The importance of regular exercise and health promotion cannot be emphasized enough when looking at the association of chronological versus biological age.

How exercise can help: Even though exercise heart rate declines with age, stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped with each beat of the heart) can increase or be maintained in healthy older subjects who exercise, thus overcoming the effect of a lowered heart rate.

Endurance training can significantly reduce the mean blood pressure and the systemic vascular resistance in older individuals.

With age, loss of calcium results in decreased bone mass, but weight bearing and resistance-training exercises are known to help maintain bone mass.

Muscle mass declines with age (creating less strength and endurance) primarily due to changes in lifestyle and decreased use of the neuromuscular system. However significant strength gains in previously sedentary older adults can be attained by a program of regular exercise.

As lean body weight (muscle and bone) declines with age, body fat increases. This change in body composition is primarily due to decrease in muscle mass, basal metabolic rate (BMR- which is basically your metabolism, the slower it is the less calories are burned), and lack of physical activity.

Regular physical activity preserves lean body mass, decreasing fat stores and stimulating protein synthesis which may reverse these adverse changes in body composition associated with aging.

Note: Older adults need to be fully cleared to participate in physical activity by their physician.