If you’ve ever felt like your body is suddenly going through a lot of changes all at once, you’re not imagining it.
A new study from Stanford Medicine shows that our bodies experience significant shifts in certain molecules and microorganisms during our 40s and 60s.
These changes aren’t gradual but happen in bursts, according to the research published in Nature Aging.
Researchers analyzed thousands of different molecules in people aged 25 to 75, along with the bacteria, viruses, and fungi living in and on their bodies (known as the microbiome).
They found that these molecules and microbes don’t change slowly over time. Instead, most of them shift dramatically around the ages of 44 and 60.
“We’re not just slowly getting older; there are moments when our bodies undergo rapid changes,” said Michael Snyder, PhD, a professor of genetics and the study’s senior author.
“These big changes happen in the mid-40s and early 60s, and it’s true across all kinds of molecules.”
These sudden changes likely affect our health. For example, the study found that molecules related to heart disease changed significantly during these periods, and molecules linked to the immune system shifted in people in their early 60s.
The researchers were curious about why age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s and heart disease don’t increase steadily with age but seem to spike at certain points. To explore this, they used data from 108 people who have been part of a long-term study on aging.
Participants donated blood and other samples every few months for several years, allowing scientists to track over 135,000 different molecules and microbes, resulting in nearly 250 billion data points.
The study found that 81% of the molecules showed these sudden changes rather than gradual ones. The most significant changes occurred in two age groups: the mid-40s and early 60s.
The findings about the mid-40s were surprising to the researchers. Initially, they thought menopause or perimenopause in women might be causing the changes, but they found that men also experienced these shifts in their mid-40s.
This suggests other factors, beyond menopause, are influencing these changes in both men and women, and understanding these factors will be a focus of future research.
The changes observed in the 40s were related to alcohol, caffeine, and fat metabolism, as well as heart health, skin, and muscles. In the 60s, changes were linked to carbohydrate metabolism, immune system regulation, kidney function, and continued shifts in heart health, skin, and muscles.
Some of these changes might be influenced by lifestyle habits common at these ages, such as increased alcohol consumption in the 40s due to stress. The researchers emphasize the importance of paying attention to your health during these key periods.
This could mean exercising more to protect your heart and muscles or reducing alcohol intake as your body’s ability to process it declines.
“I believe we should adjust our lifestyles while we’re still healthy,” Snyder advised. These findings highlight the importance of being proactive about health, especially during your 40s and 60s, when your body undergoes these significant changes.
If you care about health, please read studies about how Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease.
For more health information, please see recent studies that olive oil may help you live longer, and vitamin D could help lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.
