
A study out of Stanford University has identified two ages at which the human body experiences advanced biological aging and it’s changing the way we think about our bodies. Michael Snyder is the Chair of Genetics at Stanford School of Medicine and his team collected and explored data from men and women between the ages of 25 and 75. The research focused on the subjects’ molecular makeup and when they started to break down, but that wasn’t the only part of the study. The team also looked at their microbiomes and the results have given us new insights into why our bodies age the way they do.
The Importance of Microbiomes

Before we get to the ages of the most pronounced physical breakdown, it’s important to understand the microbiome that we all have inside our bodies and the role it plays in our deterioration. It’s made up of bacteria, fungi, microbes, and viruses and everyone has one. Most people know that it affects how we digest food, but it also works on everything from our immune system to our mood. To complicate matters, every single person on Earth has a microbiome that’s unique to them and no one else.
It’s important to understand that the biome is a very fragile ecosystem that can be damaged and disrupted by many different factors. For instance, antibiotics can weaken your immune system and affect your digestive system. A poor diet, poor sleeping habits, and even stress all negatively impact your microbiome and that speeds up the aging process at these two important times in all of our lives. On top of that, a damaged microbiome can lead to mood disorders and lots of other things that you don’t want to deal with as you age, and your body begins to break down.
Disease and Aging

One major takeaway from this study is a new understanding of the correlation between aging and disease. Taking cardiovascular disease as an example helps us understand what’s going on. This is a leading cause of death all around the globe and it doesn’t work the way we thought it did. Before this study, it was believed that the risk of the disease steadily increased throughout our lives, but that’s not the case. It turns out that the molecules related to it go through two major periods of rapid change. These two periods come at the exact ages or rapid aging found by the study.
The same is true with the molecules related to our immune systems. Once we hit one of the ages found in the study, the immune system changes and makes us much more susceptible to sickness and disease. That’s why humans tend to get sick more often as they advance in age. The natural changes in our bodies at these ages create a weakened immune system. If you’ve ever wondered why older people tend to die from relatively mundane sickness, this is the reason that it happens and why they’re more likely to get sick in the first place.
Method of Study

Michael Snyder’s study looked at 108 individuals and took biological samples from them every few months. That gave his team the chance to look at over 135,000 changes in the molecules of the participants. That led to a discovery of thousands of microbes and molecules that change and shift while increasing or decreasing in their numbers and abundance. Of those molecules, a massive 81% underwent those changes at the two specific ages. That marks the starting point for the age-related changes we all go through, and it has a lot to do with lifestyle.
Dr. Xiaotao Shen was part of Snyder’s team and found significant changes in molecules related to substances like alcohol and caffeine. He also pointed out changes to lipid metabolism, skin and muscle health, as well as changes to risk factors for cardiovascular disease. These changes took place at the first age while changes in carbohydrate and caffeine metabolism, immune regulation, and kidney function appeared at the second age. That means, not only does aging advance at these two ages, but each age also has its own changes that affect all of us for the rest of our lives.
The Ages for Changes

When it comes to the actual ages for these changes, they tend to correlate to times of our lives when we start to feel aging take its hold. The first age when we rapidly age is in our mid-40s. To pinpoint it more accurately, it’s usually the age of 44. Naturally, it’s not a hard fact that it will start on your 44th birthday. It falls at the midpoint of middle age and everything from your microbiome to the way your body processes alcohol will shift with the changes in your body.
The second age of change comes around your 60th birthday. That’s when you can expect changes to your immune system as well as how your body processes caffeine. If you got used to drinking coffee all day long in your 20s, your 60s will make a time when you can’t take a drop after noon, unless you want a sleepless night. It’s also implied by the data that you’ll spend more time being sick and you’ll have a greater risk of heart and kidney disease. Of course, if you’re under the age of 60 or 44, you can take steps to soften the blow of these major physiological changes.
Lifestyle May be a Factor

With all this data, Snyder makes sure to add that lifestyle may be a factor in the whole thing. It’s worth considering the possibility that the alcohol metabolism may change simply because middle age marks an increase in consumption for most people. Our 40s are filled with extra stress due to career changes, family obligations, and other factors. The physiological changes could be attributed to changes in diet, exercise, stress, and everything else that comes along with aging and reaching a time when you’ve hit the middle of your lifecycle. Genetics can also play a role in these changes, but that doesn’t mean they’re a fact that you’ll have to live through. This study gives us specific things to look for as we reach 44 and 60 and it’s important to take measures to control them. Increasing physical activity and decreasing alcohol and caffeine consumption can delay the breaking down process. As Snyder puts it, “I’m a big believer that we should try to adjust our lifestyles while we’re still healthy.” The more attention you pay to your body, the better equipped you’ll be to control the way it ages.
5 comments on “Aging Happens at Certain Milestones”
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February 3, 2025 at 12:56 pmThis is such an insightful and well-researched article! The way you provided both context and practical examples made it much easier to understand.