00:00We're all getting older, but some of us might be aging better than others.
00:07I'm 38 according to my birth certificate, but I wanted to know, how old is my body really?
00:14To find out, I went to see the longevity doctor, who can measure my biological rather than my
00:19chronological age. I've been trying to be really healthy the last couple of months, like diet,
00:24exercise. So I'm really, really hoping that he will say I am younger than 38. I'm thinking like,
00:30you know, maybe a 32, I wouldn't mind. Anything under my real age would be great.
00:37I will be devastated if it's more than my real age, to be honest.
00:40We can do your glucose monitor now. You can set the app up when you've got a little bit of time.
00:46Longevity science is booming, but forget billionaires using whizzy sci-fi treatments to
00:52try and achieve immortality. This area of medicine is more about a tailored approach to health,
00:57figuring out an individual's personal risk factors and what lifestyle changes they could make if they
01:02want to live better for longer. The goal? To slow and maybe even reverse the aging process.
01:08And in doing so, potentially stave off serious illnesses like cancer, heart disease and dementia.
01:14What we're trying to do here with our longevity medicine service is preventive medicine.
01:20So screen early for things and teach patients that they control the risk of developing diseases.
01:30All the diseases we have are a bit of a mix of genetic components which you cannot change.
01:35But actually that only forms a really small part of the disease of aging.
01:40Most of the risk is actually determined by your lifestyle choices. And we use those changes,
01:46as well as drugs sometimes, to change your risk.
01:49But it doesn't come cheap. People are willing to spend up to £6,000 for a test like this.
01:59They ran a full MOT on me. Blood tests, bone density scan and an ultrasound of my internal organs.
02:06And then things got sporty. This is a VO2 max test and it measures how much oxygen your body
02:17can use during intense exercise. Basically a fitness stress test, on camera.
02:25All of that data gets put together, analysed and summed up for me by the clinic a few weeks later.
02:30But I'm even more interested in something else. A separate blood test was sent off to a lab in the US
02:37to determine one magical number. My biological age. So it's time for the moment of truth.
02:45So Helen, this is the report of your biological age test. And the good news is that your calendar age
02:52is 38 and your biological age is 30 years old, which is amazing, obviously.
02:57I mean, that is incredible news. I'm very surprised, but also very happy about that.
03:03Eight years younger than my actual age? I'll take it.
03:07Oh, I've never tried to do that. Oh my gosh. Literally got no idea how to do that.
03:12This isn't an exact science, but it is a useful snapshot to show where your body's at
03:16and where it might need help. Age might be just a number, but I'll happily stick with 30 for now.
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