A new Stanford Medicine study has found that ageing is not constant; rather, it can speed up suddenly at certain points in life. So, if one day you ever feel like everything in your body is breaking down at once and you have aged overnight, that might not be your imagination.
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We age most in our mid-40s and 60s?
The research found that many of our molecules and microorganisms dramatically rise or fall in number during our 40s and 60s. They assessed thousands of molecules and microbiome (the bacteria, viruses and fungi that live inside us and on our skin) in 108 people they had been following to better understand the biology of ageing. The people in the group were between the ages of 25 and 75.
The Stanford study found that we don’t age in a gradual, chronological fashion. In fact, we undergo two periods of rapid change during our lifespan, averaging around age 44 and age 60.
Michael Snyder, PhD, professor of genetics and the study’s senior author, said in a press release, “We’re not just changing gradually over time; there are some really dramatic changes. 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 result
The new study analysed participants who donated blood and other biological samples every few months over the span of several years. While tracking the age-related changes in more than 135,000 different molecules and microbes, for a total of nearly 250 billion distinct data points, they found that 81 percent of the molecules changed more at certain ages than at other times: when they were in their mid-40s and early 60s.
While dramatic changes in the 60s were not so surprising, changes in the mid-40s were surprising. At first, the researchers attributed the changes in the mid-40s in women to menopause or perimenopause. So, they broke out the study group by sex, and found the shift was happening in men in their mid-40s, too.
“This suggests that while menopause or perimenopause may contribute to the changes observed in women in their mid-40s, there are likely other, more significant factors influencing these changes in both men and women. Identifying and studying these factors should be a priority for future research,” said Xiaotao Shen, PhD, a former Stanford Medicine postdoctoral scholar.
According to the researchers, these big changes likely impact our health. In their 40s, individuals showed molecular changes linked to alcohol, caffeine, and lipid metabolism, cardiovascular health, and skin and muscle function. By their 60s, shifts involved carbohydrate metabolism, immune regulation, kidney function, and continued changes in cardiovascular, skin, and muscle pathways, reflecting progressive age-related physiological transformations.
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
