Welcome To The DNA Age

How old are you really? Well, you could argue that it’s completely relative. After a hard night out or during your first session of a Boot Camp, you can feel a heck of a lot older than what the number was on the front of your last birthday card. 

On the other hand, picking up a hot young thing from a bar or executing a particularly convincing laser flip on the skateboard can make you feel as awesome as you did ten years or more ago.

But the truly amazing thing is; either way you are absolutely right! It turns out that ‘age’, as local fitness guru Gus Lam often notes; is ‘just a number!’ What’s more; it is also a number that can be manipulated to suit your own purposes – in much the same way any good accountant or political pollster does every day.

 

Slowing down Time

The reason our ages are suddenly so flexible now comes down to recent breakthroughs in a mystical scientific zone where DNA boffins use words like; ‘epigenetics’, ‘methylation’ and ‘bisulfite mapping’ to outline a concept that I would simply describe as; ‘l-l-like freaking wow!’

What this epigenetic stuff means is that whilst we all have a ‘chronological’ age; i.e.: the amount of time that has passed since our birth, which can’t be changed (unless of course; you’re driving a De Lorean at 88mph during a thunderstorm!) we also have ‘biological’ ages. This is worked out from how our cells are ageing, and whether that is faster or slower than what the expected norm ought to be for our chronological age. The outtake from this of course is that we can feasibly engineer stuff so that we can LIVE LONGER – and without even having to drink from that pesky elusive Holy Grail!

 

How can we live longer? How?!

Kiwi company Science Research Wellness (SRW) are some of the brainiest scientists at the forefront of this hot new discipline and they’ve just launched DNAage; a new product that can help us LIVE LONGER! 

SRW founder Greg Macpherson explains that DNAage uses a form of epigenetics called ‘DNA methylation’ to work out what our biological age is. The science behind this is that we all accrue methylation groups on our DNA as we get older, although the speed we accumulate them can change due to lifestyle or environmental factors. SRW can take a sample of our DNA and measure it in the DNAage lab to determine what our biological age is when compared to both our own chronological age and those in society of a similar age. 

 

How it works

Harnessing the awesome power of both Mother Nature and Father Time combined shouldn’t be easy – but SRW have made it that way. So, unlike the miserable brain-jabbing Covid test we’ve all been suffering through, the DNAage test is completely pain-free. It takes the form of a simple saliva-based DNA test which can be done from the comfort of your jacuzzi – and with no queueing at all.

Once your sample is ready, you just slip it into the provided pre-paid envelope and drop it off at your nearest post office then scurry back to your hot tub to await your results. 

You wanna live forever? Work for it!

When it turns up, your DNAage test result will provide you with your biological age based on your DNA methylation and also the age you are predicted to be when compared to the general population based on your methylation results. 

Of course, these results are not guaranteed to be super pleasing. It may turn out that your biological age is actually older than your chronological age. Yikes!

But all is not lost because the really good news about epigenetics is that it isn’t the same as genetics. With genetics whatever cards you get dealt at the beginning of the hand, are what you’re stuck with – there’s no use asking for better ones once you up the ante. However, with epigenetics you can change your hand until you have at least a pair each of jacks and kings. But you’ll have to work for it. 

The epigenetic scientists discovered that our biological ages are massively influenced by everyday things like diet and exercise. As Greg Macpherson says; ‘DNA methylation marks can be influenced by our very lifestyles, stress-levels, exposures to pollution and experiences. What we put into our bodies, such as the food we eat and alcohol consumed, all adds up and impacts our DNA methylation and other epigenetic marks.’

So, if we’ve been putting the wrong stuff into our bodies or basically abusing it unnecessarily, it may be shortening our lives. But this could be reversible as preliminary studies show that dietary plus environmental or lifestyle changes can cause deceleration of the epigenetic clock in some people.

 

Personalising your future

Of course, as no one has been created exactly the same, there may be some wiggle room here and there on the lifestyle changes as extra sleep may work better for this guy and not for that. SRW realise that and so also offer a personalised product and service package as part of DNAage where they deliver lifestyle advice alongside their state-of-the-art test. This option can help you monitor your progress and make positive changes to your health over time.

 

If you want to talk to someone about potentially extending your life, you can contact SRW here. 

But whether you go with a DNAage test or not, here are some good pointers on how to improve your biological age: 

– Eat a balanced diet

– Reduce stress levels (explore yoga and meditation)

– Minimise UV exposure

– Get plenty of exercise

– Ensure you are getting enough sleep

– Minimise alcohol intake and drug abuse

– If you are overweight, try to reduce your weight to a healthy BMI

– Supplement with nutraceuticals may help to support your cellular health

 

Find out more about DNAage by visiting their website.