Healthspan, Lifespan, Biomarkers Oh My!
Strange Terminology Breeds Fear. Don't Stress
Hello again dear readers. Thanks for being a member of this mostly intelligible newsletter.
Today I would like to share with you the journey towards understanding one’s biological age, as opposed to one’s chronological age. To start we can contrast one’s healthspan with lifespan. Both of these terms are statistical, meaning that they rely on large sets of numbers in order to be meaningful.
In the graph below we can see an average distance of 16 years that separates the world’s average healthspan (63 years) from the average lifespan (79 years). Healthspan of 63 years means optimal health. And then we get 16 years with a range of less-than-optimal health conditions.
Projecting into the future we can look forward to an increase in lifespan (possibly 103 years by the year 2140).
The 16 year gap between healthspan and lifespan starting at age 63 is the natural outcome of an increase in chronological years. It is these 16 years (on average) that we have some control over, in terms of lifestyle and monitoring of our health.
The ultimate end result (death) is, as far as I know, something that’s out of our control. But what about the decade and a half of decreasing health. What can we do to enrich those years?
One approach that is relatively inexpensive is to monitor one’s health on a regular basis. That could be anything from paying attention to how you are feeling, to using various tracking devices that do the heavy lifting for you.
I use 3 tracking services to help me get a good insight into my physical health. I’ll describe each one and how they work together in order to give me my “InnerAge.”
Oura
I’ve been wearing an Oura ring for about 1.5 years and it works remarkably well. It costs $409 USD plus a monthly membership fee of $6 USD. You wear the ring 24 hours a day and you use the Oura app to monitor your health status. Each morning I check my “readiness” score. A score of 85 or higher is optimal.
Readiness takes into account 9 different indicators, from the quality of your sleep to your resting heart rate and body temperature and more. Sleeping indicators include your deep and REM sleep (rapid eye movement), your sleep efficiency, wake time, light sleep, and latency (presented in a daily graph).
At first it may seem overwhelming, but the data is all rolled into a single readiness number for simplicity. If I’m at 85 or above (85 is optimal) I’m automatically in a better mood (like Pavlov’s dog). From 75 to 85 I’m still fine. Below 75 I start to pay attention to what may be wrong. The Oura ring knows when I’m getting sick even before I do, so if my readiness number is low I drink herbal tea and slow down and rest in order to get my score back to normal+.
23andMe
23andme is the second health service that I use. They rely on genetic markers in order to make statistical assessments of your health. The cost for the following is $179 USD (and $69 USD per year for continued membership).
Ancestry Reports
Family Tree
DNA Relative Finder
Trait reports
Health Predisposition reports
Carrier Status reports
Wellness reports
Family Health History Tree
Pharmacogenetics reports
In order to get your DNA the company sends you a vial with a DNA preservative in it and all you do is spit into it (many times). About 4 or 5 days after they receive your saliva your reports will be ready. It looks something like this:
For the biomarkers I had to input my results from a testing lab manually. But now I’m using an addition service which automates that process (coming up next).
The ancestry feature is an additional bonus. I actually found and then later met a second cousin that I didn’t even know existed through 23andme. You can find out your ancestry composition as well as what neanderthal traits you have, and much more.
InsideTracker
For the last service, InsideTracker, I was able to combine my DNA results (exporting them from 23andme and then importing into InsideTracker), as well as using InsideTracker’s phone app and connecting my Oura data.
I’m relatively new to InsideTracker although I like their InnerAge calculator. To start, you can upload an unlimited number of blood tests (for $119 USD per year). If you have the 17 specific biomarkers for males or 13 biomarkers for females that allow for an InnerAge calculation, it prompts you to do so (for $99 USD). For some reason you can upload an unlimited number of blood tests for an annual fee but each time you want an InnerAge calculation you must pay separately. Duh
In any case I was able to get an InnerAge calculation for test results from 2014 (unknowingly I had the biomarkers back then). Turned out my biological age matched my chronological age.
I’m currently waiting for a new set of biomarkers from a recent set of blood tests done here in Bali. InsideTracker can translate the data from my pdf file both automagically as well as with human oversight (I’ll also double-check it too once its posted online).
For an idea of what it’s like to track your InnerAge and the associated benefits of the resulting action plans, listen to this video:
So what’s the point?
At age 66 I am concerned about those declining healthspan years referenced at the beginning of the newsletter. I’d like to have as close to an optimal span of years as possible (without being overly concerned). I’m not a health freak by any means, but I believe in the science behind the numbers.
If I were to calculate the costs it would be:
$409 for the Oura Ring (for several years) + $72 a year for membership
$179 for 23andMe + $69 a year for membership
$119 for InsideTracker (assuming you have your own blood test results) + $99 for the InnerAge calculation
On a monthly basis it’s approximately $55. Not super cheap but if it saves a visit to a medical clinic or a hospital I’m way ahead. And having the amount of data that I get on a daily basis seems invaluable to me.
What about you? Please take the poll:
Thanks again dear readers and “Sehat bagus” (Bahasa Indonesian for “Good health”.)
Later,
Neill