Sharing some metrics you can track to help improve biological age.
Hello friends! How are you; Hope you are having a great day so far! It’s the last day of school for the kids (wahoo!!) and we have a movie date with friends and a friend is coming to visit from out of town. I hope you have a great day too!
For today’s post, I wanted to share some of the things you could track over time to help improve your biological age.
Biological age is different from our chronological age. It can provide key insights into metabolic health and how our bodies age and function over time. I usually get frustrated at my biological age when I test it (you can read my experience here) but I’m very grateful to learn strategies in High Performance Health for things I can actually do about it!
From sleep patterns to fitness indicators, tracking these factors can lead to improved decisions. Today, I wanted to discuss some metrics you should be tracking and why they can be crucial to optimizing your biological age.
What to watch to improve biological age?
Sleep Quality and Duration
Quality sleep is paramount to overall health and well-being. Tracking your sleep patterns, including duration and quality, can help identify areas for improvement and ensure you’re getting enough rest to recover each night. Aim for 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep to support optimal biological function. I love using the Oura ring to track sleep.
Daily Steps and Physical Activity
Tracking your daily steps and overall physical activity levels provides valuable insight into your movement patterns and helps ensure you meet recommended activity guidelines. Aim for at least 8,000 – 10,000 steps a day and incorporate regular exercise to support cardiovascular health, maintain muscle mass and boost metabolism. If 8,000 is a huge stretch goal right now, add the steps every day until you can get closer to that amount.
Weight and BMI
Maintaining a healthy weight and body mass index (BMI) is essential to reducing the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Tracking changes in weight and BMI can help you measure progress toward your health goals and identify areas for improvement. While this only shows a small part of the picture, it can be useful to track trends.
Waist-hip ratio
Waist-to-hip ratio is a valuable indicator of central obesity and general health risk. Monitoring changes in waist-to-hip ratio can help assess abdominal fat distribution and identify potential health risks associated with visceral fat accumulation. For this, simply take your waist measurement and divide by your hip measurement. For women, the goal is 0.80 or less and for men, it is 0.95 or less.
Fundamental Exercise Movements
Incorporating core exercise movements like bench, barbell squats, deadlifts, push-ups, chin-ups and planks into your fitness routine helps you build strength, improve muscular endurance and improve overall functional fitness. Monitoring progress in these basic movements can guide your strength training program and ensure balanced muscle development.
Grip strength
Grip strength is a reliable indicator of overall muscle strength and functional capacity. You can read more about the importance of adhesion force here. Monitoring changes in grip strength over time can help assess muscle function, identify weaknesses, and monitor progress in strength training programs. Here’s something you can use to track grip strength.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Heart rate variability (HRV) is a measure of the variation in the time intervals between successive heartbeats and provides valuable information about autonomic nervous system function and overall health. Monitoring HRV can help assess stress levels, recovery status, and cardiovascular health.
Blood glucose levels
Maintaining stable blood glucose levels is essential for optimal metabolic health and overall well-being. Monitoring blood glucose levels, especially in response to dietary changes and physical activity, can help identify potential insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction. If you are curious about trying a CGM (continuous glucose monitor), I highly recommend Nutrisense! You can check it here and use code GINA50.
Incorporating these key measurements into your health monitoring routine can provide valuable information about your biological age and help guide lifestyle changes to optimize health and wellness. I’m a big fan of any steps to improve overall health and longevity. I’ll be keeping an eye on these things myself and crossing my fingers that I finally get an improved result this year.
ho ho
Gina
