The quest to look and feel younger never truly fades. They say true beauty comes from within and we agree with that sentiment on several levels.

Aesthetic beauty is more than skin deep, but that has more than one meaning. Firstly, having physical beauty is meaningless if you are an unpleasant person, especially if you use your beauty as an excuse for snobbery toward others. All the beauty treatments and makeup in the world won’t cover that blemish, so remember to make the world a kinder place.

Secondly, how beautiful we are on the outside is often a reflection of how healthy we are on the inside. Science has discovered that your age might not actually be your age, so how do your birthdays stack up against how your body feels?

That’s where the concept of biological age comes in –  a concept that might hold the key to maintaining a youthful glow.

This article explores the difference between your chronological age and your biological age and guides you on how to improve your biological age, so you look and feel younger for longer.

Combined with Opulent Aesthetic’s beauty treatments, you will light up every room you walk into, no matter your age.

What is age?

Age is observed in two ways. Chronologically and biologically.

Your chronological age is straightforward. It’s the number of years you’ve been alive since your birth – a number that’s set in stone.

Your biological age, however, tells a different story. It’s a measure of how well your body’s cells and tissues are functioning, and it can be different from your chronological age.

If you’re fit and healthy, your biological age might be younger than the years on your birth certificate. Conversely, if you’re dealing with chronic health issues, your biological age could be higher. Research supports that biological age is a more accurate predictor of health risks like disease onset and lifespan than chronological age.

And, the good news is that you can influence your biological age and even reverse it, so ultimately, it’s the one that truly matters.

How biological age is measured

Biological age is measured by observing genetic biomarkers such as telomeres and DNA methylation that indicate how your cells function.

Telomeres are protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. Chromosomes carry instructions from your DNA that tell your body how to repair itself. Each time your cells divide – a natural part of life, growing, and healing, your chromosomes shorten a little making it harder for your body to follow your DNA’s instructions and replicate properly.

Sadly, as we age, our telomeres become shorter and their lack of protection drives ageing and sickness.

DNA Methylation is a process that turns genes on or off. It’s affected by environmental factors and can indicate how fast your tissues age. Studies have shown methylation patterns can help predict certain diseases, like breast cancer.

Things that influence biological age

Diet

A nutrient-rich diet can lower your biological age. The best options include a low-calorie, plant-based diet rich in fish and similar to the Mediterranean diet. Pay attention to nutrition data when shopping to make informed choices that support your vitality.

If possible, opt for organic options because they contain fewer chemicals that cause oxidative stress.

Eat fermented foods and focus on your gut health because gut health is responsible for your overall immunity. Science has discovered that our gut health influences so many health factors, including emotional and psychological health, our skin quality and therefore our beauty, and even our diet and sleep patterns.

In other words, neglecting our gut health creates a domino effect that in turn affects our dietary decisions, and this creates a vicious cycle that reinforces the problem. Read our gut health article to learn more.

Exercise

Staying active is key to keeping your biological age in check. Regular exercise helps maintain a youthful body and mind. Studies suggest that exercise can slow ageing biomarkers and reduce disease risk.

Taking the right approach to exercise can protect your cardiovascular health, which in turn improves the delivery of oxygen and nutrition from your healthy-organic diet, to your cells and muscles.

It also encourages protein synthesis, a major factor in ageing. It is established that we lose muscle mass as we age, making us frail, immobile and more susceptible to falls. By engaging in moderate resistance training, we fend against loss of mass and encourage further mass.

It is important to get professional and potentially medical guidance on which exercise routines you should partake in, especially if you are at a vulnerable age or have medical conditions.

Stress

Studies show that prolonged exposure to physical and psychological stress can accelerate ageing and can leave frown marks on your face that increase the appearance of age. Fortunately, anti-wrinkle treatments can reduce visible lines and enhance your youthful beauty, and the effects of stress can be reversed. Managing stress through emotional resilience, therapy, or stress-reducing activities can protect against age acceleration.

Mindfulness practice and breathwork are great tools to reduce stress and anxiety.

Smoking

Smoking is notorious for its negative health effects and its ability to increase biological age. Quitting smoking can restore your biological age to that of a non-smoker, effectively turning back the clock. Of course, the longer you smoke the more time is required to reverse the effects of it.

Being around smokers and consuming secondary smoke through fumes is also considered very bad for health and ageing.

Sleep

Sleep is quite possibly the most important thing you do for your health. It is equally as important as your diet and more important than exercise in most respects. An entire book has been dedicated to this subject, so we will reserve an in-depth discussion for a separate blog.

Quality and quantity of sleep play a significant role in biological ageing. Poor sleep can increase your biological age, but improving sleep habits can reverse this effect. Aim for at least seven hours of quality sleep per night.

Interestingly, sleep has a profound impact on your mental and emotional health and even your dietary decisions. You may notice that when you miss out on those valuable Zzzzs, you gravitate to calorie-dense foods.

The lesson here is to prioritise sleep to stay looking and feeling younger. Sleep is also important after having beauty treatments like chemical peels and microneedling because it promotes the healing process.

Environment

Your environment plays a huge factor in what you are exposed to. This includes harmful toxins and pollutants, which adversely affect your biological age, skin quality and beauty, but also what temptations you are confronted with.

While not always easy to change, we recommend optimising your environment so you are less exposed to toxins and pollutants and temptations that impact your lifestyle choices. Moving to a new area surrounded by nature, away from busy roads that both pollute and keep you awake at night, and where you can source locally grown organic food, will do wonders for your external and internal beauty.

This will be easier for some than others, but ultimately, it will fall on what you are willing or able to prioritise.

Final thoughts

Yes, it’s true that you cannot change your biological age, but that is vanity speaking because ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you can change your biological age. Being and feeling younger on the inside will radiate your beauty on the outside making your chronological age seem irrelevant to anyone blessed enough to be in your presence. 

Just like a ripple in the water, the process starts with you – on the inside, and works its way out. If you prioritise improving your biological age, the beauty treatments that Opulent Aesthetics offers will go so much further.

Our treatments are designed to enhance your beauty and help you maintain your vitality and youthful radiance for as long as possible. Our selection of wrinkle-treatments, skin boosters, and facials will give you the edge and a head-start against ageing.

If you would like to explore your beauty treatment options, give our lead clinician, Sadie a call and she will guide you through the process.

Remember, you are beautiful just the way you are and that will never change.