At age 50, many people notice notice noticeable changes in the body, from wrinkles, easily approachable fatigue, to memory loss. A new study published in the journal Cell has shown the biological reason behind this phenomenon: from the age of 45, the aging rate of organs in the body increases significantly.
Scientists analyzed tissue samples from 76 organ donors aged 14-68 and found that body tissue, including the heart, lungs, pancreas, blood and adrenal glands, began to experience noticeable mechanical changes from the age of 45-55. In which, the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body, is the part that shows the fastest aging.
The 45 to 55 years of age gap is a major milestone, as most organs experience a motor storm, a series of dramatic changes in protein expression, marking a transition to systemic aging, says Dr Guanghui Liu, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a lead author of the study.
Notably, the study used a protein clock tool, different from a bieueo clock that tracks DNA to determine the biological age of organs. Proteomic watch is changing the way we think about the aging process, says Dr. Douglas Vaughan, Director of the Potocsnak Institute of Medicine at Feinberg Medical School (Northwestern University, USA). Your lungs can age over your heart, and your heart can age over your hormonal system, and aging organs are at very different speeds.
Another study published in Nature Aging in 2024 also confirmed that the aging rate can skyrocket at two times: 44 and 60. These changes are not always obvious, but in the long run they can seriously affect cardiovascular health, metabolism, cognition and immunity.
So what can we do?
According to Dr. Robert Mankowski, Associate Professor of Geriatrics at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (USA), "The aging process begins from birth, so the sooner you start acting, the greater the effectiveness", he recommends applying a healthy lifestyle including eating balancedly, getting enough sleep, regular exercise and keeping the brain stimulated.
The expert also emphasized that, although there is no genetic change, lifestyle factors such as nutrition and exercise can slow down the decline of the immune system and reduce the risk of chronic diseases in middle age and old age.
What you need to remember:
age 50 is not the end of your health, but a golden time to control the rate of aging. By measuring biological age and changing your lifestyle, you can completely support your body in "aging healthily".
