Anti-ageing tips: Here's how to rewind your biological clock and take the reins of ageing in your control

Instead of tackling age-related illnesses and impairments one at a time as they occur, why not prevent or delay ageing in the first place? Here are tips to do so

Reversal of ageing deals with therapies or any such procedure that successfully reverses our physiological aspects. Instead of tackling age-related illnesses and impairments one at a time as they occur, why not prevent or delay ageing in the first place?

In 2007, Shinya Yamanaka became the first scientist to convert normal cells (with potential to transition into any cell type) into stem cells (reprogramming cells from aged individuals, to rejuvenate/reset the cells to their embryonic stage. The entire process takes around 50 days and involves four critical molecules known as the Yamanaka Factors.

It was demonstrated that cells may be regenerated without losing function, and that rejuvenation restores some function to elderly cells- delaying the ageing process. The fact that they also saw signs of age reversal in genes related with illnesses is very encouraging for the longevity industry.

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Darshit Patel, Chief Scientific Officer at Decode Age, shared, "Our chronological age tells us close to nothing about our own health, fitness or susceptibility to sickness, or cognitive performance. What is truly important is our ‘biological age’ or how our body functions in relation to our calendar age.” He listed a few tips to rewind the biological clock and take the reins of ageing in your control:

1. Daily exercising - Cycling, jogging and other forms of stamina exercise will retain our youthfulness. Long-distance bikers have reported lower cholesterol levels and increased disease-fighting traits in their old age. Weight-bearing training also improves bone health and helps combat osteoporosis.

2. Nutrition - Our goal must be to consume nutritional-dense foods that have inherent anti-inflammatory properties. In our body, beneficial fats such as omega-3 fatty acids are converted into anti-inflammatory molecules that serve to keep our cells young. They are found in fish oil, olive oil, raw nuts, seeds and avocado.

3. Maintaining your gut health - Our gut represents an important element of our immune systems hence we should aid it with immunity-boosting meals. Gut flora is the foundation of good health, so choose foods that support it, such as garlic, onion, artichokes, oats, and fermented foods like sauerkraut (finely cut raw cabbage, fermented by various lactic acid bacteria). A healthy gut also majorly impacts our mental and physical well-being, as the gut is linked to the brain via the vagus nerve.

Darshit Patel advised, “The best part is, to reset our biological age clock we can start right away, with the simplest steps, by being conscious about our diet, duration of physical fitness and routine overall health check-ups, to avoid neglecting the damages we cause to our bodies, over time. Additionally, with the surplus of health-tech gadgets and wearables, biohacking methods and available natural supplements, life extension is becoming a dependable reality.”