ten years younger age markers

In researching the book, Ten Years Younger, I noticed five age markers that made solid sense. If you are doing everything correctly (eating well, exercising, managing your stress, and avoiding toxins) true age markers should decrease steadily, sometimes linearly, with time. But most Americans are doing most things wrong most of the time and these age markers show signs of accelerated aging, meaning these measures of aging are worse than they should be. Hence, the average American has excessive body fat, limited strength and aerobic fitness, their cholesterol profile is worsening, and their mental performance is declining all much more rapidly than intended. The good news is that the Ten Years Younger program can rejuvenate average Americans back to their intended biological age. On average, most Americans are ten years younger after following this program for ten weeks.

The age markers I measure and can see improve in just ten weeks include:

1. Body Fat

• You can measure body fat with bioelectrical impedance scales or with skin fold calipers, both available in health centers and medical clinics.
• Take out that old tape measure and check your waistline too, as an expanding waistline can be a serious sign of accelerated aging, and have an elevated risk for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

2. Muscle Mass (Strength)

Measure you push-up and curl-up strength as noted in Ten Years Younger.

3. Aerobic Fitness

(Maximum volume of oxygen burned with maximal exercise = VO2max)
Ten Years Younger shows you how to use a treadmill available at most gyms in America to calculate your ability to burn oxygen (something I do in my clinic at Masley Optimal Health Center. This is perhaps the best measure of your true physiological age.

4. Cholesterol Profiles

(Total Cholesterol/HDL ratio = TC/HDL)
It is easy to measure your cholesterol at health fairs, medical clinics, and doctor’s offices. Everyone should know their total cholesterol, HDL, and that ratio. Total cholesterol (TC) is like total garbage on the streets, while HDL is the healthy cholesterol that cleans your arteries like a garbage truck. The best predictor that the streets and your arteries are clean is not what is the total or HDL cholesterol levels themselves, but the ratio of TC to HDL. Average American TC/HDL ratios are 4.5-4.8, but nearly half of Americans die of heart attacks and strokes, so average may not be a good thing. A ratio of 4.0 is my minimal goal, 3.5 is very good, and I call less than 3.0 optimal.

5. Cognitive Performance

Mental speed, Reaction time, Cognitive flexibility)
These measures of mental function decrease gradually as we age. This is why people may not feel as mentally quick with aging. Memory may stay intake into your 80s or drop in your 20s and 30s, hence memory is a less reliable marker of aging and better reflects brain injury. Since you can’t do anything to change your IQ, (intelligence) I’m not promoting IQ testing, but you can improve mental speed with a healthier lifestyle.

Ten Years Younger lists ten simple questions to measure your cognitive performance. We also make available a much more sophisticated measure of cognitive performance which has also been used in research studies to assess changes in mental performance over time. See Ten Years Younger Cognitive Testing for details.