7 Signs of Aging as You Grow Older

The first signs of aging take us by surprise. A single gray hair, a slight line near the outer corner of our eyes, or an unexpected strain from doing a simple, daily task. All of these are normal parts of the aging process, and even parts of a healthy aging process, although we may not like them or welcome them. 

Most of us don’t want to stop aging (imagine the implication). What we do want is to age in a way that allows us to continue living life and enjoying the activities we love. Avoiding age-related illness and fighting the feeling that our bodies are “slowing down” become our primary targets when we think of getting older. 

Aging happens in two ways: chronologically and biologically. We will discuss both, talk about some of the most common signs of aging, and talk about whether or not it’s possible to reverse the aging process (without the use of cosmetic injections or surgeries). 

First, let’s talk about the differences between chronological and biological aging. 

What Are the Two Types of Aging?

Aging happens inside and outside our bodies, but the ways in which we age are slightly nuanced. 

Chronological

Chronological aging happens as the result of us living another year on the planet. This aging happens when we have another birthday and become a year older. We cannot prevent chronological aging, and we don’t want to. 

Biological 

Biological aging happens because our cells age. Our cells are the foundations of our bodies. It’s possible for our cells to age faster than our chronological age, which we don’t want to happen. 

However, it is also possible that our cells age slower than our chronological age, which means that biologically, our bodies are younger than our birth age. Both chronological aging and biological aging are capable of producing some of the most common signs of aging. 

What Are the Signs of Aging? 

Aging is more than just gray, fine hair and wrinkles. Aging can cause illness, cognitive decline, and even lead to chronic illness. 

1. Skin Changes

It’s one of the most noticeable signs of aging and the reason why the anti-aging skin care industry is worth around 62 billion dollars. Older adults experience changes to skin’s elasticity and youthfulness, primarily because of a decrease in two important proteins that make up the skin, collagen and elastin. 

Collagen is responsible for giving skin its plump, youthful look. Elastin is responsible for giving skin its resilience, or its ability to snap back into place when it has been stretched. The decrease in production of these two proteins within the skin cells creates wrinkles and sagging skin. 

Couple these changes with a lifetime of sun exposure (even if you’ve been diligent with sunscreen), and you’ll likely notice even more significant differences from the skin you had when you were younger. Aging skin may also experience periodic dryness. 

It isn’t uncommon to need a complete overhaul of your skincare routine as you age. You’ll probably need a more effective moisturizer and fewer products designed to dry out oil in the skin. 

2. Growths

Though technically a skin change, skin growths deserve their own category. These developments on the skin happen due to damage over time or simply as a natural part of normal aging. Skin tags, moles, freckles, and age spots seem to crop up as quickly as gray hairs. 

It’s incredibly important to have these growths checked by a dermatologist to rule out skin cancer. It’s also a great idea to continue being obsessive about sun protection, including sunscreen, protective clothing, and protective eyewear when you are exposed to the sun. 

3. Changes in Vision

Maybe you’ve never worn glasses a day in your life. After age 40, you can just about guarantee the need for reading glasses. 

Declining near vision due to age is referred to as presbyopia. Presbyopia happens to everyone at some point in their lives. In fact, your eye doctor may even say that in addition to death and taxes, presbyopia is also a life certainty. 

Other changes to vision can include cataracts and macular degeneration. Protecting your eyes from UV rays and blue light can help you reduce your risk of developing these conditions, and getting regular vision checkups can screen for eye diseases. 

4. Muscle and Bone Loss

Changes to our musculoskeletal system are also a common sign of aging. Between the ages of 30 and 50, adults begin to lose bone density and muscle mass. You might find it more difficult to recover from bone or joint injuries, or you may develop joint pain or back pain. 

Muscle strength will begin to decline, too. To combat a loss of muscle and to prevent osteoporosis (the thinning and weakening of the bones) regular exercise is a must. Aim to get 30 minutes of regular physical activity per day (or 150 minutes per week) and alternate with weight lifting or resistance training to increase muscle mass. 

5. Changes in Elimination

It’s an uncomfortable subject, but as you get older, you might experience changes in waste elimination. The muscles that support the pelvic floor weaken, and women (in particular) may experience urinary incontinence. 

Constipation may also be an issue for geriatrics. Less movement, medication interference, and a poor diet may all contribute to problems producing regular stools. 

6. Brain Fog

In addition to skin changes, brain fog and forgetfulness are also common “first signs” of aging. The classic example of walking into a room but not remembering why makes all of us question if we’re experiencing true memory loss or if we’re simply just overwhelmed with stress.

Cognitive decline does happen with age, but being proactive with keeping your brain sharp helps delay the onset of cognitive decline and lets you keep your edge. 

7. Age-Related Illness

The most troubling sign of aging is the development of age-related illnesses. The most common age-related illnesses are high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and excess weight around the midsection. Together, they form a health condition called metabolic syndrome that places a person at a much higher risk for heart disease and stroke. 

These illnesses don’t spontaneously occur. Most of them happen over time, due to a less than healthy diet, a sedentary lifestyle, and a misunderstanding of the underlying causes that lead to their development. These conditions are linked to changes in our cells. If we can prevent those changes, we can effectively reduce our risk of developing these age-related problems. 

Why Does Cellular Aging Occur?

Biological aging, the age that our bodies are despite our chronological age, happens in our cells. Researchers propose 12 hallmarks of aging, which directly result in cellular aging and, by extension, aging in our bodies. 

If we can biohack the system and address these hallmarks of aging in our cells, we can give ourselves a fighting chance to avoid age-related illness, improve our health span, and even increase our longevity. The good news is, it can be done! Let’s look at some communities across the globe who are already doing it. 

The Blue Zones

Across the globe there are communities where residents consistently live to be 100+. Studying their habits can help us understand how to promote our own longevity. These “Blue Zones” boast some of the healthiest people on the planet. 

Here are some of the ways they promote their longevity:

Constant Movement

In all of the Blue Zones, movement is a focus. These residents aren’t doing 100 minutes of hot yoga or hitting the gym for hours. Rather, they are continually moving in a way that is natural to their lifestyle. Gardening and walking to and from their destinations are ways they incorporate movement into their healthy lifestyles. 

Balanced Diets

People living in Blue Zones eat a diet that consists of whole, local foods. They also generally eat less than Americans do. In some Blue Zones, they eat to 80% fullness, which helps avoid overconsumption of calories. 

One Blue Zone in particular has a diet that contains a high amount of what has been referred to as “the longevity nutrient.” This nutrient is pentadecanoic acid or C15:0. 

People living in Sardinia, Italy have levels of C15:0 that are three times higher (0.64%) than the general population (0.2%). Their diet contains high-C15:0-content cheese made from local, mountainous, grazing goats. 

Although we don’t all have access to this type of nutrient-dense goat cheese, it is possible to elevate our C15:0 levels. Keeping our C15:0 levels high is important and helps prevent a nutrient deficiency known as Cellular Fragility Syndrome. 

The Longevity Nutrient: What You Should Know

C15:0 is an odd-chain, saturated fatty acid that is essential to our bodies. Essential means our bodies need it to thrive but cannot readily make it on their own. That means we have to get it from our diets or from supplements. 

What Does It Do?

C15:0 targets our cells and addresses six out of the 12 hallmarks of aging, even better than previously studied medications and nutrients (like rapamycin). 

C15:0:

• Strengthens cells by 80%
• Improves mitochondrial function and increases ATP levels within cells by 350%
• Lowers “bad” LDL cholesterol (Singapore study)
• Improves liver enzymes
• Improves the gut microbiome

Without it, our cells suffer to the point of the development of a newly discovered nutrient deficiency. As published in the scientific journal Metabolites, low body levels of C15:0 can result in fragile cells that accelerate cellular aging and increase the risk of developing chronic metabolic, heart, and liver conditions. 

This nutritional C15:0 deficiency syndrome has been named Cellular Fragility Syndrome and may be impacting as many as one in three people worldwide. Low levels of C15:0 in cell membranes result in ferroptosis, which is a type of cell death linked to accelerated aging, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and NAFLD, all of which have been on the rise, especially among younger adults. 

The only way to know for certain if you’re deficient is by ordering the fatty15 C15:0 at-home test or having your doctor perform a blood test. Additionally, you can determine the result of increasing your C15:0 levels by monitoring your complete blood count, fasting lipid panel, and liver enzymes.

C15:0 levels should be above 0.2% of your total fatty acids to prevent nutritional deficiencies and Cellular Fragility Syndrome. It’s worth noting that in blue zones (where people consistently live to be 100), C15:0 levels usually measure between 0.4% and 0.6% of total fatty acids.

Fixing Cellular Fragility and Increasing Longevity

C15:0 is found in trace amounts in whole dairy products like whole milk, full-fat butter, and, of course, that coveted Italian goat cheese. 

Increasing our intake of whole dairy wouldn’t be a good solution for us for several reasons: 

1. It isn’t readily available. In milk, C15:0 is attached to branches of lipids called triacylglycerides, aka triglycerides. That means our gut has to use digestive enzymes to break down these triacylglycerides to release C15:0 as a free fatty acid. These multiple steps can make our absorption of C15:0 from foods less efficient.
2. It contains both good C15:0 and bad, even-chain saturated fats. Whole fat dairy products contain much higher levels of 'bad' even-chain saturated fatty acids that continue to be associated with poorer health. 
3. It involves cows and calories. Whole-fat dairy products provide an excess of calories, including sugars (aka lactose), that also require, well, cows. That doesn’t make it a good option for vegans or for weight maintenance. Just so you know, plant milk is completely void of C15:0. 

The solution is simple. Fatty15 is the first and only supplement that contains the pure, vegan-friendly version of C15:0 that contains just one calorie per dose, is already in free fatty acid form, and isn’t mixed with even-chain saturated fats. 

It’s everything you need and nothing you don’t. Taking fatty15 once per day can improve your health span and increase your longevity by preventing and treating Cellular Fragility Syndrome and supporting your heart, metabolic, and liver health.

Age Gracefully

The signs of aging happen faster than we expect them, but that doesn’t mean we can’t give ourselves a fighting chance to age biologically slower than we age chronologically. Taking care of our bodies, staying active, eating a balanced diet, and taking the longevity supplement fatty15 can pay dividends into our golden years. 

Sources:

Anti-aging - Statistics & Facts | Statista

Metabolic Syndrome | Johns Hopkins Medicine

Hallmarks of aging: An expanding universe | PubMed.NCBI.NLM.NIH.gov

Circulating fatty acids and endocannabinoidome-related mediator profiles associated to human longevity | GeroScience

Efficacy of dietary odd-chain saturated fatty acid pentadecanoic acid parallels broad associated health benefits in humans: could it be essential? | Scientific Reports

A review of odd-chain fatty acid metabolism and the role of pentadecanoic Acid (c15:0) and heptadecanoic Acid (c17:0) in health and disease

Effect of an Asian-adapted Mediterranean diet and pentadecanoic acid on fatty liver disease: the TANGO randomized controlled trial | ScienceDirect

Pentadecanoic Acid (C15:0), an Essential Fatty Acid, Shares Clinically Relevant Cell-Based Activities with Leading Longevity-Enhancing Compounds

The Cellular Stability Hypothesis: Evidence of Ferroptosis and Accelerated Aging-Associated Diseases as Newly Identified Nutritional Pentadecanoic Acid (C15:0) Deficiency Syndrome