Curious about your biological age? We talk about it a lot here at H&B&Me for good reason.
Understanding your biological age can be a key tool for gaining insights into your overall health and wellness.
You may have already taken our biological age assessment on the H&B&Me app. But what exactly is it, and how do we calculate it?
We sat down with Dr Francesca Haarer, our in-house Medical Advisor, to get the answers.
Read on to discover the science behind biological age and how you can use it to make positive changes in your life.
What is biological age?
Your biological age is thought to predict how fast your body is ageing [1]. It can be calculated using many different methods [2]. This is different from your chronological age, which is the number of years you have lived.
We chose our way of calculating biological age because it's quick, simple and doesn't require any specialised tests. It can also be personalised to your lifestyle.
How we calculate it
To calculate your predicted biological age, we use a complex model designed by data scientists.
This model uses 400 million person-years* of clinical data, as well as the input of data science experts and clinicians.
The method takes into account different key aspects of your lifestyle and health to generate your biological age.
The biological age assessment
When you take your biological age assessment in the H&B&Me app, we assess key areas of your overall health and wellness.
We ask around 20 questions about your health and lifestyle habits, which only takes a few minutes.
You'll be asked about your physical activity level, emotional wellbeing, sleep and eating habits – all to ensure our calculation is as reflective of you and your lifestyle as possible.
How your answers become your biological age
Thanks to 400 million person-years of clinical data, our model is able to take the answers you provide and establish a comprehensive idea of your biological age.
Here's how it works in 3 simple steps:
1) Firstly, the algorithm uses your habits, lifestyle choices and heath-related information to get an in-depth picture of you.
2) Factoring in your health behaviours and lifestyle choices, our method then creates a single, easy-to-understand score that provides a snapshot of your health and wellness.
3) This score is then translated into your biological age.
How to use your biological age on H&B&Me
The more you use the app and the more detail you share with it (such as by connecting health apps like Apple Health and Google Fit), the more we understand your lifestyle habits.
Our methodology will then use this information to continue calculating your biological age, making it even more refined over time.
Making little changes
Once you've got your biological age, you'll receive 4 scores related to key areas of your wellness: physical activity, nutritional intake, emotional wellbeing and sleep.
You can then use these scores to see where making changes could have the most impact, and set some goals that relate to areas you may want to improve.
For example, if your emotional wellbeing score is the lowest, you may want to set a goal focused on meditation or connecting with nature.
The final word
At H&B&Me, we’re here to support you in making changes to improve your overall wellness.
One way to get started on that is by understanding your biological age.
So why not download the app and take your biological age assessment today?
*A ‘person-year’ is a unit calculated by multiplying the number of people in a study by the time each person spends in the study. For example, if there were 1,000 people in a study that lasted two years, the study would have collected 2,000 person-years of data [3].
References
- Qian Zhang. An interpretable biological age. The Lancet Healthy Longevity: volume 4, issue 12, December 2023, pages e662-e663
- Li Z, Zhang W, Duan Y, Niu Y, Chen Y, Liu X, et al. Progress in biological age research. 2023 Apr 12;11.
- Andrade C. Need for and Practical Interpretations of the Person-Year Construct in Neuropsychiatric Research. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine. 2019 Nov;41(6):600–1.