For decades, medicine has relied almost exclusively on chronological age to assess health risk – as people aged, they became more at-risk for various health problems. But modern science has now made something unmistakably clear: how long you’ve lived and how your body is aging are not the same thing.
We are living through a “biological age” revolution – a shift that fundamentally changes how we understand disease risk, prevention, and longevity.
Chronological Age vs. Biological Age
While chronological age is fixed, biological age is dynamic, measurable, and modifiable. Many individuals’ biological ages are different than their chronological age, due to various factors.
Biological age reflects the cumulative impact of:
- Metabolic health (insulin sensitivity, lipid handling)
- Inflammation and immune resilience
- Hormonal balance
- Mitochondrial and cellular efficiency
- Epigenetic regulation (how genes are expressed, not just inherited)
Individuals who are the same age chronologically can have biological ages that differ by as many as 15 or 20 years. For example, one 50-year-old may have the cardiovascular profile of a 35-year-old, while another may have that of a 65-year-old. That difference is not determined by fate, it’s determined by physiology.
Why This Matters
Nearly all chronic diseases burdening individuals’ quality of life and driving up healthcare costs today, (such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, cancer, and various autoimmune illnesses), are closely linked to accelerated biological aging.
Traditional healthcare waits for health issues to arise and then treats the symptoms after the fact. Performing biological age assessments on patients allows doctors to detect potential health issues early on and intervene long before irreversible damage occurs.
This is risk stratification at the cellular level.
How Biological Age Is Measured
In order to measure biological age, several factors are considered:
- Epigenetic Clocks: Analyzing DNA methylation (the epigenetic process which “regulates gene expression and tissue differentiation” in humans) patterns provide one of the most accurate measures of biological age. The status of individuals’ “epigenetic clocks” correlates strongly with morbidity, mortality, and disease risk.
- Metabolic and Inflammatory Biomarkers: Fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, triglyceride-to-HDL ratio, hs-CRP, homocysteine, ferritin, and advanced lipid particles reveal aging trajectories years before symptoms appear.
- Hormonal and Circadian Markers: Disruptions in cortisol rhythm, thyroid signaling, sex hormones, melatonin, and growth hormones reflect accelerated aging at the systems level.
- Functional and Wearable Data: Heart rate variability, resting heart rate, sleep architecture, recovery metrics, and activity patterns provide continuous, real-world insight into physiologic reserve.
When examined together, these data points tell a story no single lab ever could.
Biological Age Is Modifiable
The most important and encouraging thing to note about biological age is that it can be reduced through targeted, evidence-based interventions, such as:
- Precision nutrition and improved metabolic flexibility
- Resistance training and VO2 max optimization
- Sleep and circadian restoration
- Micronutrient repletion
- Inflammation and oxidative stress reduction
- Hormonal optimization when clinically indicated
- Addressing toxic, infectious, and immune burdens
Patients routinely demonstrate measurable biological age reversal within months, not decades, when root causes are addressed.
What This Means for Solidarity
At Solidarity, we believe healthcare should reward stewardship, responsibility, and prevention, not just taking action after disease strikes.
Utilizing the biological age framework aligns perfectly with our mission:
- It empowers members with objective insight into their health trajectory
- It prioritizes prevention over reaction
- It supports physician-guided, personalized care
- It reduces downstream catastrophic costs by addressing risks early
Most importantly, it restores agency and prudent decision making. Health is no longer a passive outcome, it becomes an informed, measurable, and guided pursuit.
A New Definition of “Getting Older”
Aging is inevitable. Accelerated aging is not.
The biological age revolution challenges us to abandon outdated assumptions and embrace a model of medicine that is proactive, precise, and data driven.
God has blessed humanity with the intellect to discover truth about our world, our biology, and the laws that govern health and disease. When pursued with humility and integrity, good science is not in conflict with faith; it is a reflection of it. By understanding how our bodies age and responding wisely, we accept our responsibility as stewards of the gift of life we have been given. Caring for our health is not an act of vanity, but of vocation, so that we may live fully, serve others well, and walk more faithfully in the life God has prepared for each of us.
In Solidarity,
Dr. John Oertle
Sources:
Cleveland Clinic. Biological Age.
Healthline. Chronological Aging.
Mayo Clinic Press. Understanding the Difference Between Biological Age and Chronological Age.