These Events Can Increase Your Biological Age!

And why you might be recovering from stress the wrong way

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My Longevity Experiment
December 02, 2024

What Types of Stress Advance Biological Age?

A recent study published in the journal Cell Metabolism reveals that certain stress-inducing events can accelerate biological aging, making individuals epigenetically older. Utilizing DNA methylation clocks, the researchers demonstrated that while biological age can rapidly increase in response to stress, these changes are often reversible following recovery.

Biological Age and Stress: A Dynamic Relationship

Research involving humans and mice shows that biological age undergoes significant but temporary increases in response to diverse forms of stress. These findings, based on multiple independent epigenetic aging assessments, suggest that biological age is more fluid than previously thought, with changes occurring over periods as short as days or months.

Dr. James White, co-senior author of the study and a professor at Duke University School of Medicine, emphasized the groundbreaking implications, "This finding of fluid, fluctuating, malleable age challenges the longstanding conception of a unidirectional upward trajectory of biological age over the life course. Previous reports have hinted at the possibility of short-term fluctuations in biological age, but the question of whether such changes are reversible has, until now, remained unexplored. Critically, the triggers of such changes were also unknown."

Rethinking Biological Age: More Than Chronological Progression

The study challenges the traditional notion that biological age steadily increases over a lifetime. Emerging evidence suggests biological age is influenced by factors such as disease, drug treatments, lifestyle changes, and environmental conditions. It is possible for individuals to be biologically younger—or older—than their chronological age.

Dr. Vadim Gladyshev, co-senior author from Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, stated, "Despite the widespread acknowledgment that biological age is at least somewhat malleable, the extent to which biological age undergoes reversible changes throughout life and the events that trigger such changes remain unknown."

Decoding Biological Age with DNA Methylation Clocks

The researchers leveraged DNA methylation clocks to measure biological age fluctuations. These clocks, which track predictable changes in methylation levels across the genome, provided insights into how stress impacts biological age.

In one experiment, a procedure called hetero-chronic parabiosis (HP), in which young and older mice were surgically joined, revealed that biological age increased in younger mice exposed to aged blood. However, upon surgical detachment, biological age in these younger mice returned to baseline levels.

Dr. Jesse Poganik, the study's first author, remarked, "An increase in biological age upon exposure to aged blood is consistent with previous reports of detrimental age-related changes upon hetero-chronic blood-exchange procedures. However, reversibility of such changes, as we observed, has not yet been reported. From this initial insight, we hypothesized that other naturally occurring situations might also trigger reversible changes in biological age."

Stress and Recovery: Trauma, Pregnancy, and COVID-19

The study further investigated biological age fluctuations in scenarios involving acute stress, including major surgery, pregnancy, and severe COVID-19 infections. For instance:

  • Trauma patients experienced a rapid increase in biological age following emergency surgery, which normalized during recovery.

  • Pregnant individuals showed postpartum recovery of biological age, with varying rates and magnitudes.

  • The immune-suppressive drug Actemra accelerated biological age recovery in COVID-19 patients.

Dr. Gladyshev explained:
"The findings imply that severe stress increases mortality, at least in part, by increasing biological age. This notion immediately suggests that mortality may be decreased by reducing biological age and that the ability to recover from stress may be an important determinant of successful aging and longevity. Finally, biological age may be a useful parameter in assessing physiological stress and its relief."

Advances in DNA Methylation Clocks

The study highlighted the advantages of second-generation DNA methylation clocks in detecting short-term changes in biological age. First-generation clocks, in contrast, lacked the sensitivity required to capture these transient fluctuations.

Dr. Gladyshev noted that, "Whatever the underlying reason, these data highlight the critical importance of careful selection of DNA methylation clocks appropriate to the analysis at hand, especially in light of the many clocks continuously coming to the fore."

Limitations and Future Directions

The researchers acknowledged certain limitations, including the reliance on DNA methylation clocks in human studies and the inability to fully connect short-term biological age fluctuations with long-term aging trajectories.

Dr. White concluded by saying, "Our study uncovers a new layer of aging dynamics that should be considered in future studies. A key area for further investigation is understanding how transient elevations in biological age or successful recovery from such increases may contribute to accelerated aging over the life course."

This study underscores the dynamic and reversible nature of biological aging, opening new pathways for understanding and potentially mitigating the effects of stress on longevity.

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