It’s been a good few months since the news landed that we all pass through critical aging peaks and it’s still lingering in the back of our minds. Recovery takes time. 

The US medical study that found the ages of 44 and 60 are significant aging spikes has a lot to answer for after it got repeated on almost every major news feed, giving us all another thing to worry about. But after you’ve skimmed the articles and felt the panic from the overall message that aging skyrockets around certain birthdays, what positive action can we take armed with that information? 

How we age, according to the medical study

A team of genetics scientists based at Stanford University found that humans age in two significant bursts of accelerated aging, rather than the gradual process as experts previously thought. The academic paper published in Nature Journal, proved that aging is far from a linear process. “We’re not just changing gradually over time; there are some really dramatic changes,” said Michael Snyder, PhD, professor of genetics and the study’s senior author. “It turns out the mid-40s is a time of dramatic change, as is the early 60s. And that’s true no matter what class of molecules you look at.”

The study assessed 108 participants, aged between 25 and 75  years old and participants were tracked for a median period of 1.7 years, with a maximum follow-up duration of 6.8 years. “The analysis revealed consistent nonlinear patterns in molecular markers of aging, with substantial dysregulation occurring at two major periods occurring at approximately 44 years and 60 years of chronological age.”

Delve a bit further and it seems, the first crest that occurs mid-forties is predominantly connected to heart disease and the body’s declining ability to process caffeine, alcohol and lipid fats. At age 60, the immune system is affected as well as carbohydrate metabolism and kidney function.

A longevity expert’s take on the aging spikes study

Professor Paul Clayton, is a world respected mind in pharmaconutrition and preventative aging, who’s been researching and speaking on longevity decades before it became the wellness buzzword it is today. Here, he gives his honest, professional opinion on the research that aging happens in definitive spikes. 

“The authors of this paper found that over time, there are non-linear changes in oxidative, inflammatory and other metabolic areas which they link to the clinical changes routinely observed in modern populations. The most important question is whether these changes are intrinsic to the aging process, or are they merely what one finds in a modern population which is fundamentally unhealthy?” 

Professor Paul Clayton questions whether the symptoms of accelerated aging such as heart disease, kidney failure and a rise in blood pressure would happen in another group of people, perhaps those living in Blue Zones or the renowned Hunza Tribe who enjoy good health well into their ninth decade. 

“They were working with a population of North Americans who were eating a largely terrible diet, and of course they had inflammatory and oxidative stress and immune dysfunction; they have a whole lot of health problems which do not develop in other populations. That means that those other populations, who ate a diet which did not cause oxidative, inflammatory and other stresses, likely did not show the changes that the scientists found in this paper. These stressors account for a good deal of the phenomenology of aging as we see it but that does not mean that this phenomenology is intrinsic, or inevitable.”

Behind the scenes of skin aging 

In the beauty stakes, Stamford’s research paper found that the dysregulation of skin and muscle stability accelerated at both aging crests, (44 and 60) with particular degradation of the Extracellular Matrix (ECM), skin’s essential scaffolding made up of collagen and elastin which provides structural stability, strength, elasticity and hydration to tissues and cells. “One of the main mechanisms of age-related dermal atrophy is a reduction in the amount of ECM, particularly collagen in the dermis. This is largely due to decreased collagen production and increased degradation of collagen,” explains Professor Clayton.

It’s no great surprise that our skincare regimen needs to change after 40 when we need to introduce powerful skincare actives and hi-tech skin devices. 

Professor Paul Clayton previously published a medical paper on the science of aging, identifying the processes behind skin aging and how to reverse them. Clayton’s work identifies eight key mechanisms of cellular processes including degradation of the Extracellular Matrix, cellular energy decline, cellular senescence, reduced dermal capillary blood flow and depleting hydration levels all contribute to skin aging. All of these processes, Clayton advocates, are modifiable and reversible with low-level laser light energy transference, evidence-based nutraceuticals, an anti-inflammatory diet and full commitment to a positive lifestyle approach. 

Lifestyle adaptations to stop accelerated aging

Longevity experts like Professor Clayton are keen to spread the science-backed word that our health spans and aging trajectories are far from set. In fact, we all have the lifestyle hacks to hand to live ten years younger. 

“I would instead suggest that many of the nonlinear changes are in fact malleable, and can be modified and slowed using the appropriate pharmaco-nutritional intervention. Lifestyle interventions can also clearly modify these shifts, there are many examples of this,” says Professor Paul Clayton.

Across the board, aging is increasingly being viewed as something that is with the right treatment, addressable and in many cases, reversible. Taking a peer-reviewed, proven health supplement, fully documented to support the immune system such as LYMA will strengthen the body’s response to external aggressors, aid restorative sleep and combat the stress so inter-linked with the development of age-related chronic diseases. 

“If we take a supplemental program that blocks these types of stress and support the immune system, then we may avoid the aging shifts that were recorded in the research paper. So can we counter them? I am convinced that we can.”

Being privy to a wealth of scientific research the moment it’s published is a modern privilege we can certainly benefit from but the context of what that means for us as individuals is potentially more pertinent.

Precision health and wellness is the future of becoming our optimal selves, so read the medical papers but know you already hold the power to become better.