‘DRAMATIC CHANGES:' Study shows aging speeds up in mid-40s, early 60s

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Watch out if you are in your mid-40s and early 60s because if you are not already feeling old, you might soon.

New research that looked at the “non-linear” timeline of aging found that people age quickly in two bursts: During mid-life and about two decades later.

Biological and chronological clocks may not be in sync, according to a new study from Stanford University that was published in the journal Nature Aging.

Researchers analyzed more than 135,000 types of molecules affected by aging in 108 people between the ages of 25 and 75 and tracked for age-related changes every three to six months.

They found that people age rapidly in at least two spurts: Once at age 44 and again at age 60.

“We’re not just changing gradually over time; there are some really dramatic changes,” Michael Snyder, director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford University and the study’s co-author, said in a statement.

“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.”

While it was a small sample tested, the findings have serious health implications, given the risks of cardiovascular disease, dementia, Parkinson’s and other problems increase with age.

The two time periods were impacted differently, however.

For those in their mid-40s, the study noted significant changes in molecules related to alcohol, caffeine and fat metabolism, heart disease and skin and muscle, suggesting people’s bodies break down booze and fats less efficiently around this time.

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For people in their early 60s, there was a “rapid decline” in immune regulation and researchers also found that there were significant molecular changes linked to carbohydrate and caffeine metabolism, kidney function and heart disease, as well as in skin and muscles.

Researchers initially thought the significant changes that occurred during the mid-40s was related to menopause and perimenopause, but a closer look at the data found that the shifts happened for both women and men.

The study noted that lifestyle factors such alcohol and caffeine intake and exercise levels could be driving the changes rather than simply just chalking up the changes solely to biological aging-related shifts.

Xiaotao Shen, a computational biologist at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and study co–author, told the Washington Post that the findings help better understand what drives these changes in the shifting molecules.

“If we can find the drivers of these changes, we may even be able to find ways to slow or even reverse the drivers of the aging at these two time points.”

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