Growing older may seem like a slow, gradual process, but research shows that this isn’t necessarily the case.

In fact, if you wake up one morning, look in the mirror, and wonder if your aging process is somehow accelerating, you might not be imagining it.

According to the 2024 survey, Molecular changes associated with agingOn average, humans experience sudden leaps forward twice, once when they are 44 years old and once when they are about 60 years old.

“We’re not just changing gradually over time, there are some really dramatic changes,” said Stanford University geneticist Michael Snyder. explained The research was published in August 2024.

“We found that the mid-40s, like the early 60s, was a time of dramatic change. And that’s true no matter what class of molecules you look at.”

Watch the video below for an overview of the research results.

Aging is a complex process associated with increased risk of various diseases.

Snyder and his colleagues biology of aging Relax better, treat these diseases.

They followed a group of 108 adults who provided biological samples every few months over several years.

The researchers noticed that: some conditionslike alzheimer’s disease and cardiovascular diseaseRisk does not increase gradually over time. It escalates rapidly after a certain age.

So they biomarkers of aging See if you can identify the relevant changes.

The researchers used samples from the cohort to track different types of biomolecules. The variety of molecules studied included RNA, proteins, lipids, and microbiome taxa from the gut, skin, nose, and oral regions, for a total of 135,239 biological signatures.

Each participant submitted an average of 47 samples over 626 days, with the longest-serving participant providing 367 samples. This wealth of data generated more than 246 billion data points, which researchers processed to look for patterns of change.

Several previous studies have found nonlinear changes in molecular abundance that may be associated with aging. rat and human.

In research on fruit flies, mice, and zebrafish, Gradual aging process in these species.

Snyder and his colleagues observed distinct changes in the abundance of many different types of molecules in the human body at two distinct stages.

About 81 percent of all the molecules they studied showed changes in one or both of these steps. Change peaked in the mid-40s and again in the early 60s, but with a slightly different profile.

The peak in the mid-40s indicated molecular changes related to lipid metabolism. caffeineand alcoholcardiovascular disease, and skin and muscle dysfunction.

The peak in the early 60s is associated with carbohydrates; caffeine metabolism, cardiovascular disease, skin and muscle, immunomodulationand renal function.

The first peak, in your mid-40s, is usually when women start experiencing symptoms. menopause or perimenopauseHowever, the researchers ruled out this being the main factor. Men also experienced important molecular changes at the same age.

“This suggests that while menopause or perimenopause may contribute to the changes observed in women in their mid-40s, there may be other more important factors influencing these changes in both men and women.” He explained about metabolomist and lead author Xiaotao Shen.formerly at Stanford University and currently at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

“Identifying and studying these factors should be a priority for future research.”

Related: 47 years of research reveals the age at which we reach our physical peak

The researchers note that the sample size was fairly small, testing limited biological samples taken from people between the ages of 25 and 70.

Future research may delve deeper into this phenomenon and study it in more detail across a broader range of subjects to gain a deeper understanding. how the human body changes over time.

This study natural aging.

A previous version of this article was published in August 2024.