How to Calculate Your Body Age

Introduction

Determining your body's age can help you assess if you're living a healthy lifestyle. However, it's important to note that this method could be more precise and scientifically accurate, and it shouldn't replace professional diagnosis.

While calculating your actual age, known as your "chronological age," is straightforward, determining your biological age involves physical tests and evaluating your lifestyle. The number you get can give you clues about your health habits and pinpoint areas for improvement. It's particularly helpful if you aim to lower your biological age as you age.

Testing Physical Conditioning

Know Your Resting Pulse Rate

Your heart plays a crucial role in maintaining your overall well-being. Typically, a healthy heart beats at a frequency of 60-100 times per minute.

Your pulse rate needs to fall within this range when you are at rest, although exceptionally fit individuals, such as highly trained athletes, may have a lower rate, even below 50 beats per minute. To determine your pulse rate.

• Gently place the first two fingers of your right hand on the inside of your left wrist, just below the thumb, where a major artery is located.
• Ensure that you can feel your pulse.
• Calculate the number of heartbeats you feel within 15 seconds and then multiply that by 4 to ascertain your heart rate per minute.

A lower resting rate generally indicates a strong heart, while higher rates suggest that the heart is working harder and less efficiently. If your resting pulse rate is 100 beats per minute or higher, it is recommended to add 1 to your chronological age.

Exercise to Test Your Flexibility

Sit on the ground with your spine erect, legs close together, and arms extended in front of you at shoulder height. Make a mark directly beneath your fingertips next to your legs on the ground.

Gradually extend forward while maintaining straight legs. Calculate the gap between the two marks in inches to assess your level of flexibility. The farther you reach, the better, indicating a spry and youthful body. If you reached less than 5 inches, add one. If you reached 10 inches or more, subtract one. If you reach between 5 to 10 inches, neither add nor subtract.

Test Your Strength

Test your strength and see how powerful you truly are. People typically build muscle mass until around the age of 30, but as we get older, we start losing muscle mass and physical strength.

Inactive individuals over the age of 30 can experience a decline of 3% to 5% in muscle mass per decade, and even those who are physically active also experience some loss. Sarcopenia is the loss of muscular mass that occurs as people age.

The loss of muscle mass can cause a decline in strength and movement in elderly people, as well as raise their risk of frailty, falls, and bone fractures.

Assess Your Strength

Strength increases with the number of push-ups performed. Doing a large number of push-ups shows that you have a lot of muscular mass and physical endurance.

If you completed less than 10 push-ups, add 1 to your score. For 10-19 push-ups, your score does not change. However, if you reached twenty push-ups, subtract 1 from your score. And if you surpassed 30 push-ups, subtract two from your score.

• Perform modified push-ups (on your knees).
• Maintain a straight posture and drop your chest to within four inches of the floor.
• Continue till you reach your limit.

Calculating the Body's Composition

Calculate your Waist-to-Hip Ratio

Once you have measured the circumference of your waist and hips, divide waist numbers by hip. This ratio can help determine your body shape, such as pear, apple, or avocado.

As we age, weight gain becomes more common, and assessing body fat distribution, particularly through the waist-to-hip ratio, can help identify potential health risks such as high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and certain types of cancer.

Please measure your hips at their widest point and your waist around two inches above the navel. For men, a ratio of more than 1.0, and for women, a ratio of more than 0.85 indicates a higher amount of body fat around the midsection, which may not be ideal. If your ratio exceeds the recommended threshold, add 1 to your score.

Calculate Your Body Mass Index (BMI)

You may easily calculate your ideal body mass index (BMI) by dividing your height in meters squared by your weight in kg. A high BMI might be a sign of extra body fat, which can result in obesity-related health problems.

Your BMI may be computed by multiplying your height in meters by 0.025 and your weight in pounds by 0.45 to determine your kilogram weight. Once the square of your height has been calculated, divide your weight in kilos by the square of your height. If your BMI is 25 or more, you are considered overweight.

You may utilize internet calculators to find your BMI if arithmetic isn't your strong suit. Add 1 point if your BMI is below 18.5 (underweight), add 2 points if it falls between 25 and 29.9 (overweight), and add 3 points if it's 30 or higher (obese). Subtract 1 point if your BMI is between 18.5 and 25 (healthy).

Body Fat Analysis

It is recommended to get a body fat analysis done to assess your body composition accurately. This method is more precise than using the hip-to-waist ratio or BMI.

The most accurate way to conduct this analysis is through bioelectrical impedance. During the test, electrodes are placed on your foot, and a small electrical current passes through your body to measure your body fat percentage in comparison to lean tissues such as muscle and bone.

You must refrain from exercising, sauna visits, and alcohol consumption before the test for the most accurate results. It's important to note that women generally have higher body fat percentages than men.

For women, if your body fat percentage falls between 15% and 24%, there is no need to make any adjustments. If it falls between 25% and 33%, add 0.5 to the measurement. If your percentage is below 15% or above 33%, add 1 to the measurement.

For men, if your body fat percentage falls between 6% and 17%, there is no need to make any adjustments. If it falls between 18% and 24%, add 0.5 to the measurement. If your percentage is below 6% or above 25%, add 1 to the measurement.

Assessing Lifestyle

Calculate the Duration of your Nightly Sleep

Sleep is essential for the human body because it helps the brain and body relax and recuperate. Not getting enough sleep can result in health hazards, including obesity, high blood pressure, renal disease, stroke, and poor sleep, as well as cognitive decline.

The recommended amount of sleep for an adult is seven to eight hours per night. Consistently getting less than this can result in looking tired, feeling mentally drained, and aging prematurely. Deduct 0.5 points if you typically sleep between 7 and 9 hours, add 1 point if you sleep 5-6 hours or more than 9 hours, and add 2 points if you sleep less than 5 hours per night.

Take Responsibility for Your Vices

It is important to consider the amount of alcohol you consume. While consuming a moderate amount can have some benefits, excessive consumption can significantly raise your chances of developing certain cancers, stroke, high blood pressure, liver disease, and pancreatitis.

The Mayo Clinic recommends a healthy drinking limit of no more than one drink per day for women of all ages and two drinks per day for men under 65, with the limit being one drink for men over 65. It's important to note that the measurement of a drink varies for beer (12 fluid ounces), wine (5 ounces), and liquor (1.5 ounces).

Now, let's talk about smoking. Medical science is crystal clear on this matter: any form of smoking, including second-hand smoke, is detrimental to your health. Engaging in smoking or excessive alcohol consumption will undoubtedly accelerate your biological aging process.

To evaluate your alcohol and smoking patterns, deduct 1 point from your score if you abstain from drinking, deduct 0.5 points if you follow the daily recommended limits, and add 2 points if you surpass those limits. Regarding smoking, subtract 3 points from your score if you have never smoked, subtract 2 points if you quit smoking five or more years ago, subtract 1 point if you quit within the last four years, and add 3 points if you currently smoke.

Assess Your Eating Habits

Ensuring you are receiving the necessary nutrients is essential for maintaining good health. Proper nutrition plays a vital role in strengthening muscles, bones, teeth, and organs while also lowering the chances of developing serious illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

It is essential to incorporate a variety of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains into your diet while reducing the intake of fried and processed foods, sugars, sodium, nitrates, and saturated fats. Neglecting these key components may result in weight gain and nutrient deficiencies, ultimately compromising your overall physical well-being.

Conclusion

Determining your body's age involves evaluating physical tests and lifestyle factors to determine your biological age. By assessing metrics such as resting pulse rate, flexibility, strength, body composition, sleep duration, vices, and eating habits, you can gain insights into your overall health and make necessary adjustments to improve your well-being.