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HomeAnti-AgingAgingResearchers & Health Professionals Find Functional Age Measurement Essential

Researchers & Health Professionals Find Functional Age Measurement Essential

Age rests on the concept of chronological age being the number of years that a person has been alive while biological age refers to how old a person may be taking into account a number of factors. Functional aging is the relationship between the length of life and the amount of time spent in the disabled state.u00a0 For example a person could be 35 years old but may be living a less than desirable sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle which results in having a biological age of 55 or older, while a person could be 55 and be living an active and healthy lifestyle and have a biological age of what would be seen in a much younger person. Therefore, the younger person may end up living longer years in a disabled state or being less functional than the older person.

Chronological age is now believed to be an incomplete number as it does not take external factors into consideration. While we are not yet able to control how we age because it is primarily influenced by genetics, research indicates that aging can be impacted by external factors such as diet, exercise, sleep, stress, alcohol, exposure to pollutants, and smoking to name just a few. Luckily there are steps we can take to combat many of the external factors.

Functional age rests on the premise that a measure other than chronological age may better reflect a person’s aging process which is an important issue to the relationship of probable length of life and the amount of time spent in a disabled state. Being able to measure biomarkers may provide the opportunity of early warning for one to take steps important towards intervention to delay decline that is associated with aging.

Advances in modern technology have brought forth devices, such as the AgeMeter®, which represent approaches to non-invasively test over a dozen physiological biomarkers of aging and provides an estimated function age. Biological age tests from blood and genetics can be validated using this technology to determine whether a person can actually function at that age. It can also be used by healthcare practices and researchers to validate whether aging interventions are working, and be of great value to helping people maintain health. 

Among it’s features this technology can be used with no supervision being required for the 20 to 30 minute series of tests as video and audio guidance explain each test. The database continually updates and grows by anonymously collecting test results from all Agemeters worldwide. It’s value will only increase as the database grows, enhancing the precision of test results.

This technology has potential for value in anti-aging and longevity research efforts as the device advances aging reversal research worldwide as a perpetually expanding global aging study, and it can be foundational for age research with database approaches that can be customized.

This technology measures a growing number of important physiological biomarkers that decline with age including:

  • Auditory Reaction Time
  • Highest Audible Pitch
  • Decision Reaction Time
  • Decision Movement Time
  • Short Term Memory
  • Visual Reaction Time
  • Visual Movement Time
  • Blood Oxygen Saturation
  • Lung Function: Forced Vital Capacity
  • Lung Function: Forced Expiratory Volume
  • Muscle Speed & Coordination
  • Sense of Touch – Vibrotactile Sensitivity

Current there is an Agemeter® at Harvard Medical School for use by Dr. David Sinclair and Dr. George Church. The device was also recently used with speed and ease at RAADfest In Las Vegas 2019 to measure functional age in participants who signed up on site. 

Dr. Ronald Klatz, Founder of the Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine Movement states, “The AgeMeter® will be an essential part of all physicians’ practice of anti-aging and regenerative medicine.”

Dr. George Church, Harvard Medical School, states, “We need cost-effective, standardized, quantitative insight into a diverse set of physiological measures. The AgeMeter® can help us get there.”

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