Dr. Valery Novoselov, a specialist in geriatrics and neurology, explains how to determine a person's biological and mental age.
According to him, a person's chronological age can easily be determined from their birth certificate, but people age at varying rates. Therefore, the focus should be on basic biological indicators that have remained stable for centuries.
He says: “The age of puberty over the past hundred years has ranged between 14 and 16 years. Menstruation also begins in girls at approximately this age, and menopause usually occurs between the ages of 50 and 51. So far, there are no indications that these biological stages have changed. Therefore, it cannot be said that the stage of youth has become longer. It is true that people look different today, but that is due to nutrition and physical fitness, and not to an extension of the period of youth.”
He adds: “In general, we didn’t start spending more time in childhood or youth, but we did live longer because we succeeded in reducing the risk of age-related diseases. Today, more people are reaching old age. In the past, whether 100 years ago or even 1,000 years ago, some ancient Greeks lived to the age of 70 or 80, but the difference today is that the number of people reaching that age is much greater.”
Novoselov focuses on common methods for determining biological age, including blood tests, explaining that these can often be misleading.
He says: “It has become common nowadays to conduct tests to assess age indicators, but the results of clinical blood tests do not generally change with age, but are more affected by diseases. There are no fixed standards related to age, except in rare cases. Therefore, the deviation of indicators from their normal range often indicates the presence of disease, not old age.”
According to him, the danger of age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's, lies in the fact that they may develop silently for 15 to 20 years, even though bodily functions begin to decline long before symptoms appear.
He says: “The slower the thinking and reactions, the more it indicates aging. The chronological characteristics of vital functions are a more accurate indicator. If a person is more efficient, able to accomplish more work, has better mental abilities, and more efficient kidney functions, such as a high glomerular filtration rate, then he is biologically younger. Therefore, biological age can only be assessed through the efficiency of bodily functions.”
He points out that changing lifestyle, giving up strenuous work, and improving diet can contribute to improving vital signs, but the essence of aging, which is the gradual decline in the functions of the body's organs, remains the same.
He concludes by saying: “In the early stages of human development, food was not available in large quantities, but today people are more careful about moderation in eating, and they have changed their lifestyle in an effort to live longer. However, age should not be measured by a birth certificate or a blood test, but by the efficiency of the body’s organs and brain.”
