If you have noticed a sudden accumulation of wrinkles, aches and pains or a general sensation of having grown older almost overnight, there may be a scientific explanation. Research suggests that rather than being a slow and steady process, aging occurs in at least two accelerated bursts.
The study, which tracked thousands of different molecules in people aged 25 to 75, detected two major waves of age-related changes at around ages 44 and again at 60. The findings could explain why spikes in certain health issues including musculoskeletal problems and cardiovascular disease occur at certain ages.
“We’re not just changing gradually over time. There are some really dramatic changes,” said Prof Michael Snyder, a geneticist and director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford University and senior author of the study.
“It turns out the mid-40s is a time of dramatic change, as is the early 60s – and that’s true no matter what class of molecules you look at.”
…
The research tracked 108 volunteers
Not enough to actually mean anything.
Read further in that paragraph:
Researchers assessed 135,000 different molecules (RNA, proteins and metabolites) and microbes (the bacteria, viruses and fungi living in the guts and on the skin of the participants).
Also, see the previous article in Nature linked in the article. That study looked at fewer proteins, but had over 4,000 participants.
I mean, that makes me even more skeptical. 108 volunteers tracked for that many sparesely populated vectors is 100% going to have hundreds of false positives just due to statistical noise.
My favorite part of science discourse will always be people self-reporting how little they understand science the math behind statistics by complaining about sample sizes that have nothing wrong with them
Statistics? Statistically speaking they studied 0.00000135% of the population all located in California.
As a 41 year old, goddamnit
43: chuckles, I’m in danger.
Lol literally my thought.
Some things scientists should just keep to themselves 😡
I just turned 45. Prepare yourself.
I feel this
Fuck you all, I just turned 44.
RIP
44 is probably the average age at which people start paying for their kids’ college tuitions. That shit will age anybody.
Well that explains why I feel like I’m about 80 now that I’m 47.
Woah there, save something to degrade in another 13 years.
It’s okay, my mom’s in her 80s and my dad made it to his 80s and their parents all made it to their 90s, so I have a good 5-15 years to degrade once I turn 60.
i thought becoming 30 fucked me up enough already… so i have to go through this two more times, only it will be worse? ugh…
Felt the same when i turned 30 years ago, but i improved my fitness from that point forward and improved things drastically for myself.
I’m 57 and I bike 25 to 50 miles a day, four out of every five days. A lot of age-related problems can be forestalled just by exercising and not eating too much food - and it helps to not majorly injure yourself in the process. In my opinion, the primary problem with aging is that it gives you more time to become sedentary and overweight.
I def feel like I noticed this in my mid 40s. My face and hair all looked very different within a year.
48 here… i used to be able to read the freaking copyright date on those eye charts … once i hit mid 40s i need glasses.
I just got progressive bifocals. It was nice to be able to read my watch properly again, but not so nice to have to look down whenever I’m going up or down stairs and to have to move my head around all the time to see all the real estate on my monitor since it’s 27".
Turned 44 6 months ago. Haven’t felt it yet. Guess it’s going to get rough soon…
One morning you’ll wake up and every bone in your body will pop simultaneously. Then while you lay there aching you’ll let out a 6 mimutes and 20 second fart that doesn’t have a happy ending.
The horror.
Yeah West in his seminal “Scale” kind of corroborates the whole story.
It seems, though, that the molecular changes you are undergoing do not immediately translate into increased mortality, so you’re going to have several more years of - presumably - feeling well until the big drop-off starts for all of us at about 60.
BTW, because of its wide range of topics, its solid scientific underpinnings and its excellent intellectual accessibility, this is one of two books I positively think should be taught at any school, the other one being Solé’s “Phase Transitions.”Wait til you sleep wrong and wake up wondering how you threw your back our.
Starting to believe it. Had a babyface for the first half of my life. Now i look like a retired state trooper
Fucking great. I turn 44 next year.
Oh, fuck me! I got nothing else.
So is it kinda like extra stages of puberty?
The idea that anyone would think that our bodies change at a constant rate is so bizarre to me, having gone through puberty myself (not to brag).
My dad had a depression at 60, got visibly older. Looks like him being over 60 is another factor.
