Find Out How Old You REALLY Are?

October 23, 2008

Photo by re_
There is a saying that goes, “Age is nothing but a number. It is how young you feel inside that counts.”

I believe that saying to be true.  But let me add to that … how young you feel inside greatly depends on how well you maintain your body with good nutrition, proper exercise, and stress management.  The result of your maintenance equals your biological age.  That is, the rate at which you are aging as opposed to the number of years you have been alive.  Depending on how well you have worked on your maintenance plan, you just may be, for instance, a 50-year-old woman with a 30-year-old body, or vice versa.  And if it is vice versa, well, it is time to do something about your health.

So, how do you find out what age you really are?

There are programs on the Internet which can calculate your biological age.  The most popular one probably being The RealAge Test by Drs. Oz and Roizen.  Yep, the Oprah doctors.  Just by answering a few quick questions about your general health, lifestyle, and exercise habits, you can get a pretty good idea as to what your biological age is.  The key words here are “pretty good idea.” I took this test myself and although I do not consider The RealAge Test to be accurate, it definitely provides a good plan to follow in order to stay on the right track.

Here is a short summary of the “plan” the test gave me.

While my chronological age is 44, apparently my biological age is 36.  Can’t complain about that.  But I was a little disappointed on a couple of points.  For instance, the test did not inquire about my body mass index (BMI / body fat) which I consider to be an important factor and I’m sure the doctors do too.  Instead, it gave me an estimated BMI of 22%.  I know my BMI to be 17% as a great deal of my weight is muscle.  There is no way The RealAge Test could possibly have known how much of my weight is muscle and how much is fat unless it asked me.  (Read my previous post about calculating your BMI index.)  And even though I stated in my answers that I consumed several daily servings of grains and dairy products, the plan the test returned to me mentioned that I needed to increase my calcium intake as well as whole grains.  Hmmmm!  But the test hit the nail on the head regarding my strength training.  It said,

“Keep building strength. Excellent! Your strength-building exercises are helping you to stay as young as you can be. Keep up the good work! For the best results, strengthen both your lower- and upper-body muscles.

Here’s why: The benefits of building muscle?  Your body will burn more calories, your bones will get stronger, your joints . . . will be better protected from injury, and your other activities will be easier to do.”

Not exactly something I didn’t already know, but it’s always good to hear it from someone else.

The test may not be 100% accurate.  But whether it gets your real age correct or not, it will be close.  And it is loaded with great tips, suggestions, and advice to help you get younger.  Click here to take The RealAge Test.

FOR YOUR GYM BAG: You can easily measure your body fat with a Body Fat Caliper.

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Posted by Julie Alexander | Filed Under Blog 

Comments

2 Responses to “Find Out How Old You REALLY Are?”

  1. Yu Ming Lui on October 24th, 2008 3:33 pm

    Actually the Nintendo Wii Fit program measures your “actual age” through your reflexes and balance. As an aside, Wii Fit is atually quite a good workout. Man, did I sweat after playing sports games on it for a couple of hours.

    But yeah, interesting concept and I truly believe age is just a number and how you treat your body is really more important.

  2. Health and Fitness on October 25th, 2008 10:42 pm

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