The 2 key points ageing speeds up – with detrimental damage starting in your THIRTIES

IF you’ve suddenly noticed an accumulation of wrinkles, aches and pains and feel like you’ve aged overnight, you could be correct. For, new research suggests that instead of ageing slowly and steadily, the body might be hit in two main bursts. According to scientists, most organs experience two periods of “accelerated structural change” If you suddenly feel like you’ve aged overnight, you may be correct Credit: Getty According to US scientists, who examined tens of thousands of tissue samples to track how they changed over time, most organs experienced two periods of “accelerated structural change”. These were in people’s 30s and 50s. Sign up for the Health newsletter Thank you! Researchers today, who labelled the findings important, said they hoped they could be useful in developing anti-ageing interventions for specific organs. Dr Sanju Sinha, an assistant professor at the centre of data science and AI at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in California, said: “Our findings can be the foundation for building a structural aging atlas to inform the design and assessment of anti-aging interventions. “Further, more than half the tissues we studied followed the structural aging of the ovaries, so we see the ovaries as a kind of pacemaker for whole-body aging. “By developing therapies to protect reproductive aging, we see the potential to protect multiple other organs and increase the overall healthspan.” In the study, which was published in the journal Nature Aging, researchers used state-of-the-art computer software to analyse more than 25,000 post-mortem tissue samples from 970 donors. Donors were all aged between 21 and 70 and 40 different tissue types were assessed. Most read in Health They discovered that arteries were among the body’s early agers, with their fastest period of structural change occurring in the 30s. People whose arteries showed more accelerated structural aging were also more likely to have atherosclerosis, where plaque builds up inside your arteries, hardening them, the scientists said. In female bodies, the uterus and vagina showed their greatest structural changes in the early and mid-50s, coinciding with when women typically experience the menopause. But they also discovered that instead of changing steadily, ovarian tissue showed a burst of structural aging around ages 35 to 40 and another around 55 to 60. Writing in the journal, scientists said that most other organs also showed a similar two-stage ageing pattern. These included organs that have seemingly nothing to do with reproduction – the esophagus, stomach, colon, and small intestine. In male bodies, the prostate and testis also followed this aging pattern. “Early-aging tissues exhibit high structural aging rates in the 30s, after which this rate declines,” they wrote. “Late-aging tissues remain structurally stable through early adulthood, then undergo major structural changes in later decades.” However, they noted: “Not all age-associated changes imply functional decline; some may reflect adaptive remodelling or neutral variation.” It comes as research published in 2024 suggested that life expectancy across the world will rise by almost five years by 2050, with the average man forecasted to live to 76 and woman, past 80. Global average life expectancy is forecast to increase to around 78.1 years of age in 2050, a rise of 4.5 years, The Lancet Public Health study also found. At the time, experts said the trend was largely driven by public health measures both preventing and improving survival rates from illnesses including cardiovascular disease, nutritional diseases and maternal and neonatal infections. The oldest living person in the world is now believed to be Ethel Caterham, from Surrey, who was born on August 21, 1909 and is 117 years old. The title of the oldest person to have ever lived belongs to French woman Jeanne Louise Calment whose life spanned 122 years and 164 days. Ms Caterham, who died in 1997, attributed her longevity to “never arguing with anyone, I listen and I do what I like”. Experts who have studied centenarians agree. Physical activity, faith, love, companionship, and a sense of purpose make up the backbone of so-called ‘Blue Zones,’ or areas of the world where people typically live to 100 and beyond. Maintaining an active lifestyle, even simply walking around town every day, has been shown to improve longevity. Companionship has been shown to have a similarly positive effect on a person’s lifespan, with studies consistently showing loneliness is toxic. Longevity tips from the Blue Zones The Blue Zones are five regions across the world where people regularly live to the ripe old age of 100, largely thanks to their diets and daily habits. The term was coined by author and National Geographic fellow Dan Buettner, who made a name for himself studying the world’s longest living people. The Blue Zones include Okinawa in Japan, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, Ikaria in Greece, Sardinia in Italy and Loma Linda in California. According to Dan, inhabitants of these swear by nine lifestyle tips. Dubbed the ‘Power 9’, the longevity guru argued that they can provide “instructions and clues for how we can set up our lives to live longer”. They include: Moving naturally rather than going to the gym Having a purpose in iife Keeping stress to minimum with naps and happy hours Stopping eating before you’re full Eating mostly plants Drink no more than two glasses of wine a day and never bingeing Belonging to a community, faith-based or not Putting your loved ones first Keeping a social circle that supports healthy behaviours Read more on the Power 9 tips here. Comment now