In this episode of Next Act Ninjas, Dr Rachael Van Pelt dives into groundbreaking research on biological aging that will change the way you think about getting older. Aging doesn’t happen gradually—it happens in bursts. Learn about the two critical accelerated aging phases uncovered by a Stanford study recently published in Nature Aging. Discover how these rapid shifts affect everything from your cardiovascular health to your immune system and metabolism. Take control of your health during these pivotal moments, so you can slow the aging process, protect your body, and extend your longevity.
In this episode of Next Act Ninjas, we dive into groundbreaking research on biological aging that will change the way you think about getting older. Aging doesn’t happen gradually—it happens in bursts. Learn about the two critical accelerated aging phases around age 44 and age 60 uncovered by a Stanford study published in Nature Aging. Discover how these rapid shifts affect everything from your cardiovascular health to your immune system and metabolism.
Host Rachael Van Pelt shares practical ways to take control of your health during these pivotal moments, so you can slow the aging process, protect your body, and extend your longevity. Whether you’re in your 40s, 50s, or beyond, it’s never too late to make small lifestyle changes that will have a big impact.
Tune in to understand how to navigate these bursts of aging with strategies for improving heart health, immune function, and blood sugar control, while preserving muscle mass and staying resilient as you age. Empower yourself with the knowledge to live well, love more, and age less.
Don’t miss this chance to learn how to thrive through your next act!
Chapters
00:00 Accelerated Aging Happens in Bursts
00:57 Non-linear Aging: New Science from Stanford
02:42 First Burst of Accelerated Aging: Age 44
05:04 Second Burst of Accelerated Aging: Age 60
07:31 Paradigm Shift in Age-related Decline
10:42 Bursts of Accelerated Aging May Not Be Inevitable
11:44 These Pivotal Points in Aging are Your Call to Action
Welcome back to Next Act Ninjas, the #1 podcast for slowing aging while leveling-up life. I'm your host, Rachael Van Pelt, a retired healthspan scientist turned realtor and coach. Today, I'm sharing some cutting edge information on biological aging that is going to change how you think about health declines. I think most of us picture aging as a gradual linear process, a kind of decline that happens steadily year by year.
But the latest science published in Nature Aging last month tells us that aging doesn't quite work that way. Instead, it appears to happen in distinct accelerated bursts. We're going to explore what these bursts of accelerated aging mean for you and how you can take control of them. Because while you can't stop time, you can slow down the impact it has on your health and vitality.
The prevailing idea that aging happens in predictable linear ways where we simply get a little weaker, a little slower, and a little less healthy each year, it's being challenged. A group of researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine analyzed over 135,000 molecules and microbes in adults between the ages of 25 to 75. They measured everything from the microbiome to proteins, lipids, metabolites, cytokines, transcription factors, you name it. And they measured these things in 108 adults over multiple years. And what they found was very interesting. They found that the most dramatic changes in these molecules and microbes occurred not gradually, but in accelerated bursts. These bursts showed up around age 44 and again around age 60, suggesting there are periods of time where the biological changes in our bodies accelerate rapidly. Thousands of molecules that drive everything from your metabolism to your immune system, they shifted in a significant way at these two key ages.
At age 44, they observed a burst of aging that was tied to cardiovascular health and metabolism of things like caffeine and alcohol. Then around age 60, they observed a second burst of aging that was tied to immune function, kidney function, and glucose metabolism. What does this mean? It means that biological aging is not a smooth curve. It's more like a series of waves that cause measurable shifts at the biomolecular level.
Let's talk more about that first big burst of change, the one that happens around age 44. At this point, your body begins to shift in ways that might feel subtle at first, but they're significant. Have you ever wondered why your energy starts to dip more or why you can't handle alcohol like you used to? Well, this is part of the reason. Around your mid-40s, your body apparently undergoes a major shift in how it metabolizes fats and proteins and caffeine and alcohol.
One of the key findings of the study was how cardiovascular markers suddenly shift at this age. This is why many people start to see the first signs of increased blood pressure and cholesterol in their late 40s and early 50s. This Stanford study showed that molecules involved in lipid metabolism begin to dysregulate around this time, and that makes us more prone to cardiovascular disease later in life. The good news? This is also the perfect time to take action. If you want to slow these changes, start focusing on heart healthy habits like regular exercise, reducing processed foods and managing your stress.
Around this time, there's a shift in how we process substances like caffeine and alcohol. The study identified changes in the enzymes that are responsible for metabolizing these substances, which might explain why that extra cup of coffee suddenly feels like too much or why alcohol starts disrupting our sleep more and more. Reducing your caffeine and alcohol consumption in your 40s could make a huge difference in how you feel at this phase of life.
At 44, biomarkers related to muscle mass and skin elasticity also started to decline noticeably. This is likely why loss of muscle mass starts to accelerate and why skin starts to show visible signs of aging. If you haven't already, this is a great time to increase your protein intake and strength training to preserve your muscle mass and keep your body strong. To keep your skin healthy and resilient, stay hydrated, eat foods that are rich in antioxidants, and avoid excessive sun exposure.
Now, if we fast forward to our early 60s, that second burst of aging occurs. This is the one that hits harder. It's where we start to see more significant changes in our immune system, our metabolism of sugar, our organ function. This is the phase where the body's resilience really starts to fade. But once again, you can be proactive about slowing these changes.
One of the most important shifts at this stage is what happens to your immune system. Around the age of 60, the Nature Aging Study showed a sharp decline in immune function and increased inflammation. That chronic low-grade inflammation underlies risk of many age-related diseases, like arthritis and heart disease and even cancer. And when your immune system becomes less responsive, it makes you more susceptible to infection, whether that be from viruses or bacteria or allergens. But here's the good news. You can strengthen your immune system and reduce inflammation through healthy lifestyle. Eat a diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods like berries and leafy greens and omega-3 fatty acids. And get enough regular exercise and good sleep. These simple habits, they're going to keep your immune system sharp.
The study also showed that your body's ability to process carbohydrates takes a hit at age 60. This is why many people at this age start to notice changes in how their bodies handle blood sugar. Insulin resistance becomes more common and the risk for type 2 diabetes goes up. But just as in your 40s, there's plenty you can do. A diet focused on whole grains, fiber, healthy fats, that's going to keep your blood sugar levels steady. And regular exercise is critical to improving insulin sensitivity and reducing your risk for diabetes.
Kidney function, that's another major area that was affected in the second burst of aging. The Nature Aging Study identified changes in molecules that were tied to the kidneys ability to filter waste around that time. And if you want to combat this, you want to stay hydrated, maintain a healthy blood pressure and reduce your salt intake if you want to protect those kidneys as you age.
Now taken together, these Stanford University findings offer a new way of thinking about aging. Instead of viewing aging as a constant decline, we now know that aging happens in waves. It's not linear. This new insight has the potential to revolutionize medicine and the science of longevity. Simply knowing that there are critical windows of rapid biological change can help the health care industry shift from being so reactive to more proactive. They can target interventions at these most pivotal moments of time. For example, instead of treating age-related diseases after they appear in our 50s, physicians could implement personalized prevention strategies in our early 40s. They could do this by monitoring many of those biomarkers of aging that were identified in this study.
In the broader field of longevity science, these data pave the way for a more precise understanding of how and when to tackle biological aging. This could lead to the development of new therapeutics aimed at slowing these specific bursts of aging and delaying the onset of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease and neurodegeneration. And that would make our dream of extending health longevity more attainable than ever before.
You know, one of the most interesting findings was how these bursts relate to major life transitions, such as menopause in women and andropause in men. Menopause, which typically occurs for women between the ages of 45 and 55, happens on the heels of this first aging burst. The hormonal changes that women experience during menopause, you know, the declines in estrogen, for example, they affect everything from bone density to skin elasticity to cardiovascular health. It's probably no coincidence that around this age we see many signs of accelerated aging. For men, andropause, the gradual decline in testosterone, it often starts around the same age, leading to loss of muscle mass, lower energy levels, poor cognitive function. The Nature Aging study showed that these hormonal shifts are tied to biomolecular changes. Knowing this, both men and women can take more proactive steps, such as strengthening their muscles, optimizing nutrition, replacing hormones. All of these things can help to mitigate the effects of menopause and andropause.
Now interestingly, the study also found that participants experienced the second spike at age 60, irrespective of gender. And that suggests that certain aspects of aging are universal, and they're driven more by molecular changes rather than, say, changes in sex hormones. And that would also argue that lifestyle interventions should be equally effective in both men and women.
In fact, it's possible that lifestyle could be the driving factor for these molecular changes in the first place. The Nature Aging Study, while groundbreaking, clearly showing molecular changes aren't linear, But they did not address whether these molecular changes are driven by lifestyle or they're an inevitable consequence of aging. They simply did not collect enough behavioral data to determine whether their study volunteers changed their lifestyle habits at these ages. For example, it's possible that the adverse changes in metabolism of alcohol and caffeine at age 44 could have been driven by increases in alcohol and caffeine consumption at that time. Likewise, the molecular changes in kidney function at age 60 could have been driven by changes in diet or increased use of medications that are known to impair kidney function. In other words, these distinct bursts of accelerated aging, they may not be inevitable. They may be modifiable.
These bursts of accelerated aging aren't something to be afraid of. They're a call to action. By making small, consistent changes to your lifestyle, you can slow down the aging process and improve your quality of life. In your 40s, focus on cardiovascular health, muscle preservation, metabolic balance. Regular exercise, especially resistance training, is key if you want to keep your muscles strong and your heart healthy. Moderate your alcohol and caffeine intake, and prioritize getting enough quality sleep. These small shifts can have a huge impact on how you navigate this first burst of aging. As you approach your 60s, shift your focus to immune health and kidney function and glucose control. A nutrient-dense anti-inflammatory diet, when combined with regular physical activity, is going to help you keep your immune system strong and your blood sugar stable. Stay hydrated, watch your salt intake. All of that is going to support your kidneys. Get rid of processed foods from your diet. Manage sugar. All of that's going to help you manage the metabolic changes that come at this phase of life.
The bottom line, the latest science out of Stanford shows us that there are critical windows around age 44 and 60 where our bodies undergo significant biomolecular changes. But now that you're armed with this knowledge, you can make more informed decisions to slow the aging process, maintain your vitality, enjoy a better quality of life. You have the power to take control of your aging journey. Whether you're in your 40s or 50s or 60s or beyond, it's never too late to make changes that support your health longevity. Aging doesn't have to be a passive process. It can be a proactive, empowering one. Every choice you make today, whether it's adding more vegetables to your plate or going for a brisk walk or prioritizing sleep, all of those things are an investment in your future. So let's embrace aging, not as something to fear, but as an opportunity to take charge, stay vibrant and live well longer.
Thank you for joining me for another episode of Next Act Ninjas. Please be sure to share, like and subscribe so we can reach more of our longevity-minded tribe. Until next time, live well, love more, age less, my friends.