Most people think of age as a number. The number of birthdays you’ve had, the candles on a cake, the digits on an ID. That’s your chronological age, the amount of time you’ve been alive.
But what’s far more important is another age quietly shaping your health, longevity, and risk of disease: your biological age.
Chronological Age vs. Biological Age
Your chronological age is fixed.
But your biological age, the age of your cells, organs, and systems, is flexible and dynamic. It reflects how well your body is functioning, not how long it has existed.
In simple terms, if your biological processes (metabolism, inflammation, mitochondrial health) are functioning like the average of someone your age, your biological and chronological ages match.
But if your systems are functioning better than average, your biological age is younger than your chronological age. If the opposite is true, your body may be aging faster than your calendar years suggest.
The Two Dimensions of Biological Age I Measure
When I look at biological age, I look through two actionable lenses, because both offer clear, measurable, and reversible insights.
1️⃣ Blood Age — Your Internal Biological Clock (Phenotypic Age)
Most people know their blood test reports show things like cholesterol or sugar levels, but when you interpret these functionally, they reveal far more. It’s your internal diagnostic, a snapshot of your functional health.
I calculate this using the Phenotypic Age algorithm, a scientifically validated model developed by researchers at UCLA and Harvard, which predicts mortality risk and biological aging through specific blood biomarkers.
The key markers used include:
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Albumin: Reflects overall nutritional and liver health.
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Creatinine: A marker of kidney function and muscle metabolism.
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Glucose: Indicates metabolic control and insulin sensitivity.
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C-reactive protein (CRP): The body’s inflammation signal — higher = faster aging.
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Lymphocyte percentage: Reflects immune resilience and chronic stress load.
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Mean cell volume (MCV): Indicates red blood cell efficiency and oxygenation.
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Red cell distribution width (RDW): Variability in red blood cell size — rises with oxidative stress and inflammation.
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Alkaline phosphatase (ALP): Linked to liver, bone, and metabolic turnover.
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White blood cell count: Elevated levels are tied to inflammation and biological stress.
Together, these markers give a functional snapshot of your body’s biological wear and tear, what we call Blood Age.
The beauty of blood age?
It’s changeable.
It gives you a baseline of where you are today and helps you set a goal for where you want to be. With targeted nutrition, supplements, training, and recovery, blood age can be reversed.
2️⃣ Physiological Age — Your Health in Motion
If your blood tells you how your systems are functioning inside, your physiological age tells you how your body performs in real life.
It’s your health in motion.
I look at it through the lens of metrics like:
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Mobility and functional movement: Can you sit on the floor and stand without using your hands?
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Grip strength: A direct indicator of longevity and neuromuscular health.
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Resting Heart Rate (RHR): A measure of cardiovascular efficiency.
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Heart Rate Variability (HRV): Reflects how well your nervous system recovers from stress.
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Sleep quality and consistency: Determine how well your body regenerates daily.
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Training balance: How often do you strength train, and how frequently do you hit Zone 4–5 cardiovascular thresholds?
These are not abstract “fitness” metrics; they are longevity markers.
They measure your ability to move, adapt, recover, and function — all of which directly tie into lifespan and healthspan.
Why I Measure Both
Because together, Blood Age (phenotypic) and Physiological Age give a complete picture. But, more importantly, both are deeply actionable.
Blood Age tells you how your internal systems are functioning.
Physiological Age tells you how your body is expressing that function in real life.
They tell you how well your biology is aging — and more importantly, how much of it you can change.
When you address your nutrition, movement, stress, and recovery through a functional medicine and epigenetic lens, you can literally reprogram how our genes express themselves, slowing down biological aging from the inside out.
My Numbers and Why I Share Them Publicly
As of August 24th, 2025,
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My Chronological Age: 39
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My Blood (Phenotypic) Age: 28 → 11 years younger
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My Physiological (WHOOP) Age: 30 → 9 years younger
I share this not as a vanity metric, but to show what’s possible when you track, test, and personalize your health intentionally.
We can’t stop growing old, but we can control how we age.
And that’s the future of health optimization.
These numbers aren’t magic; they’re measurable outcomes of targeted interventions: strength training, recovery, nutrient optimization, stress modulation, and gut repair.
The Takeaway
Biological age isn’t about chasing youth; it’s about engineering how you age.
It’s about extending healthspan, not just lifespan. So that your 50s, 60s, and 80s become your strongest, sharpest, most capable years.
Because we will all grow old, but how we age is up to us.