BIO-MARKER TESTS

Procedure

Results

Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) Test

Use a spirometer. This is the best predictor of bio-age for humans. The FVC reflects a complex function of the integrity of the whole respiratory system, the chest muscles and iaphragm, the central nervous system control mechanisms, the elasticity of the lungs.

VC declines about 40 percent linearly between 20 and 70 years of age.

Falling-ruler Test

Have someone dangle a ruler, holding it at the 30-centimetre (12-inch) to 50-cm (18-inch) mark (depending on the size of your ruler). Position your thumb and middle finger about eight cm (three inches) apart at equal distance on either side of the bottom of the ruler (the 0-cm/0-inch mark). As the other person drops the ruler, without warning, catch it between your thumb and finger as quickly as possible, and note where you caught it. Repeat three times and average your scores.

This test the reaction time. Averages generally go from the 15-cm (six-inch) mark at age 20 to 30, to 25 cm (10 inches) at age 40 to 50, and 30 cm (12 inches) or more at age 60.

Static Balance

Stand on a hard surface (not on a rug), bare feet, close your eyes, and lift your foot about 6 inches off the ground, bending your knee at about a 45-degree angle. How many seconds can you stand this way before falling over? Score = average of three trials.

Bio-age: 4 seconds 70, 5 seconds 65, 7 seconds 60, 8 seconds 55, 9 seconds 50, 12 seconds 45, 16 seconds 40, 22 seconds 30-35, 28 seconds for 25-30

Visual accomodation

To test your visual accommodation, hold this page at arm’s length and slowly move it towards your eyes until the print suddenly begins to blur. (If you wear glasses for distance, you may use them, but do not use reading glasses.) into focus at all!

For the average 21-year-old, the blurring point will be about 10 cm (four inches) from the eyes; at age 30, 13 cm (five inches); at 40, 23 cm (nine inches); and at 50, 38 cm (15 inches). By the time you’re 60, your arms probably aren’t long enough to bring it

Skin Elasticity

One of the most visible markers of aging is the skin. Loss of connective tissue in the skin contributes to the sagging and wrinkling that are characteristic of aging. A reliable test of skin elasticity is to pinch the skin on the back of your hand between your thumb and forefinger for five seconds, then see how long it takes to return to normal.

This will take less than a second for most people under 30, and two to five seconds for those ages 40 to 50. However, by age 60, traces of the skin fold will remain for an average of 10 to 15 seconds, and by age 70, 35 to 55 seconds.

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