Happy Thursday Zapien 👋

Thanks to you, our first newsletter went through the roof last week! How was your new BBQ pizza experience?

This week is all about your biological age. Simon calculated his Bio Age with 4 online tools that told him he’s precisely… 34.6 to 45 years old. Great, there is tons of room for improvement (for him and the age clock tools).

We’ve also looked at a brand new clock, currently in closed beta, and are happy to share the access code with you.

Forever,
Lisa, Karol & Simon

LONGEVITY BEAT

Your True Age

Your Bio Age is essentially the age of your cells and your whole body, influenced by your genes and whether you're a salad lover or a sofa surfer.

If your Bio Age is younger than your actual years, kudos! You may be aging well or more slowly. But if it's higher, it suggests that your aging process is in overdrive.

Let's dive into 2 ways to measure your Bio Age.

Epigenetic Clocks

Epigenetics are changes to your genes that affect how they behave without changing the DNA sequence itself.  As you age, some of these changes accumulate.

Geneticist Steve Horvath and his team first discovered a set of methylation sites that can predict age and, in later iterations, Bio Age and speed of aging. Want to learn more? Here’s a great read on the evolution of epigenetic aging clocks.

The newest generation of clocks are very accurate, but doing them regularly will leave quite a dent in your wallet.

Examples: novos DunedinPACE (US), MyDNAge, TruMe Labs (US), Elysium (US), neotes (DE)

Clinical Biomarker Age Clocks

On a population scale, many blood biomarkers change with age due to disease or decreased organ function. Consequently, certain markers correlate with age.

Aging clocks using clinical biomarkers assume that this association can estimate your Bio Age: If your biomarker values approach those of the average 30-year-old rather than your own age group of 37, then it's assumed you age slower.

Because most clocks use standard clinical markers, they are both more affordable and accessible (most clocks are free - you only need your biomarker results).

But they’re not as specific to the aging processes as the epigenetic clocks.

Examples: InsideTracker, LONGEVITAL, Aging.ai, PhysiAge, AgelessRx

Our 2 Cents

Regular Bio Age tests are a great motivator to embrace a healthier lifestyle. They’re an easy way to check if your longevity strategies, including your daily death by ice water, are paying off.

But, as even Steve Horvarth says, “the data from the clocks has validated everything we already know about what leads to long lifespans”. So if you’re asking about the best bang for buck, we can think of wiser health investments than paying 4 figures per year for multiple epigenetic tests.

SHORT HACK, LONG LIFE

Tap water is finally chilly again for those invigorating morning showers 🥶.

If you haven't tried them yet, now's the perfect opportunity: There aren't many health-boosting options as time-saving, affordable, and eco-friendly as cold showers.

What you gain: Noradrenaline and dopamine increase energy & focus and improve your mood, brown fat thermogenesis boosts metabolism, overall experience teaches grit and resilience.

RECOMMENDED VS. FISHY

Almost recommended: Biomarker Aging Clocks

Given low costs & immediate results, we recommend to regularly calculate your Bio Age using a free online clock. All you need is a handful of blood parameters that you can all find in our Blood Testing Guide. (We strongly suggest to regularly do your blood work either way)

Simon tested: AgelessRx: 34.6 years, PhysiAge: 38.9 years, Longevital: 42 years, Aging.ai: 45 years

Interestingly, Simon’s chronological age (40) is somewhat in the middle. Obviously, there is a trade-off between simplicity and predictive performance (for statisticians: MAEs of these clocks are 5-9 years, R^2 = 0.75).

So take results with a pinch of salt. The trend over time is more relevant than a single Bio Age estimation.

Almost Fishy: Telomere Aging Clocks

They were long believed to be the ultimate molecular lifespan marker. Each time a cell divides, telomeres shorten, so shorter telomeres were seen as an indicator of age and longer ones as positive.

However, new findings show that long telomeres can also lead to health issues that can affect lifespan, so the clocks have lost some credibility.

Conflict of interest: None! We get no money for product links. We promote what we find useful. Please do your own research.

HEALTH & LONGEVITY NEWS

ZAPIEN OF THE WEEK

What are you currently optimizing?

I had problems with winter fatigue for the first time this year. It was then that I realised how important it is to get light in your eyes immediately after getting up - even if it's still dark outside.

What’s your favourite tool?

I got myself the Luminette3 device, use it every morning straight after getting up and have been supplementing with Omega3 and vitamin D3 ever since - works very well so far!

BECAUSE WE LOVE NUMBERS

⚡️ 28% ⚡️

28% reduction in the rate of aging is the score of the individual currently leading the "Rejuvenation Olympics". Roughly translated, this means that every year, this lucky winner will biologically age only 8 months and 20 days.

ABOUT US

Lisa has a PhD in Medical Biology. She was a researcher at Harvard Medical before developing D2C laboratory diagnostics.

Karol is a serial founder who helped thousands of people build healthy eating habits with Upfit.

Simon is a healthcare entrepreneur who brought the doctor online-booking service Doctolib to Germany.

WHEN YOU ARE READY, THIS IS HOW WE CAN HELP YOU

Health Disclaimer

New Zapien’s products and services are not intended to substitute for professional medical guidance. Our content and media offerings do not aim to diagnose, cure, or address any medical issues.