• Chronological age is the years you’ve lived. Biological age is an estimate of how well your body is working.
• Genetics plays a smaller part than most people think, so your daily habits matter.
• The home tests are less reliable than the marketing suggests, and different tests often disagree.
• The habits with the best evidence are familiar: good food, movement, sleep, and lower stress.
• No test or supplement reverses ageing. The aim is to support a steadier pace.

Have you ever looked at someone your own age and thought they seemed a decade younger, or older? That difference is what biological age tries to capture.

Chronological age is simply the years you’ve lived. Biological age is an attempt to measure how well your body is actually working. The two don’t always match, and the reasons why are worth understanding.

Biological age is a way of measuring that balance of wear and repair, not just counting years. It draws on markers in your blood and cells that change as you age. Read together, they give a rough sense of how your body is really doing.

One useful idea here is the age gap. That’s the difference between your biological and chronological age. A smaller or negative gap suggests your body is coping well. When the gap is larger, it points to more strain.

You’ll see names like PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DunedinPACE. Some estimate a fixed age. Others, like DunedinPACE, estimate how fast you’re ageing right now. That pace idea has turned out to be one of the more useful measures.

Researchers also look at other markers. These include telomeres, the protective caps on your chromosomes. They also look at signs of inflammation in the blood. Each marker captures a different part of the picture, so they work best together.

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You can now buy a biological age test online, often paired with supplements to sell. It’s worth being cautious here.

Researchers at Yale looked closely at how reliable these tests are. They found that different tests often disagree, and that the same blood sample can give results years apart when measured twice. The pace-of-ageing measures, such as DunedinPACE, came out best.

There’s a deeper problem too. Biological age isn’t something you can see or measure directly, the way you can measure blood pressure. So there’s no simple way for you to check whether a result is right.

The pace-of-ageing measures, such as DunedinPACE, came out best for reliability. Even so, a single number from a home kit tells you far less than the marketing suggests. Doctors writing on the ethics of these tests raise a similar concern. They can cause worry while offering little you can act on.

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By your forties and fifties, the pace of ageing starts to feel more real. You might notice slower recovery, poorer sleep, or changes in energy and weight.

Encouragingly, twin studies have long put the genetic contribution at around a quarter, though estimates vary. Either way, much of how you age is shaped by what you do day to day.

You can’t control everything, of course. Genes, life, and circumstances all play their part. Still, the daily choices you make add up over the years.

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Your food comes first

Food is where I start, every time. The eating pattern with the best evidence is a simple one. Meals built around vegetables, beans, olive oil, nuts, fish, and whole grains tend to help. Studies link this way of eating with slower biological ageing.

Much of the benefit comes from plant compounds called polyphenols. You’ll generally find them in colourful foods; olives, green tea, berries, pomegranate, and seeds. Your gut bacteria break some of them down into compounds that appear to support healthier ageing.

Green vegetables earn their place too. They supply folate, which feeds the same processes the ageing clocks measure. So a varied, colourful plate of food matters more than any single superfood. It gives your body the raw materials to keep those systems steady.

Patients often expect me to name something more impressive. In practice, the basics do most of the work.

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Omega-3 and healthy fats

Oily fish is worth a mention of its own. A large trial in older adults found that 1000mg daily of omega-3 slowed several ageing measures. The effect was small, in the region of a few months over three years.

Although that may sound modest, small changes in the pace of ageing can add up across a life. Adding vitamin D and regular exercise appeared to help a little more again.

You can get omega-3 from oily fish like salmon, sardines, and mackerel. If you’re considering a supplement and you take prescription medication, it’s sensible to raise it with your GP or a medical herbalist first.

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Muscle, movement, and sleep

Muscle does more than move you around. It’s active tissue that uses energy and helps to keep blood sugar steady. Keeping muscle as you age is one of the more useful things you can do.

Protein at meals supports that, and so does some form of resistance work. This doesn’t have to mean a gym. Carrying shopping, gardening, and body-weight movements all count.

Sleep belongs here too. Poor sleep is linked with faster biological ageing, partly through its effect on inflammation and daily rhythms. A steady wind-down and a regular bedtime do more than they’re often given credit for.

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Stress and the place of herbs

Long-term stress leaves its mark on the body, including on some of the markers that ageing clocks read. Calming your stress load matters, whether through rest, time outdoors, breathing, or simply doing less. None of this is dramatic, but it adds up.

Herbs can have a place within this picture, though they come after the foundations, not instead of them. Some calming herbs, such as ashwagandha, are used to support the body through stress. Others support sleep or digestion, which feed into healthy ageing in their own way. Herbs work best when matched to the person rather than picked from a list.

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If you want a place to begin, food is the most reliable starting point. Build meals around plants, colour, good fats, and enough protein. Then add movement that you’ll actually keep up with, and protect your sleep.

Think of it as steady support rather than a race against the clock. Your aim isn’t really a younger number on a screen. It’s having more good years, and feeling like yourself in them.

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What the evidence keeps pointing back to is less dramatic than the headlines. Good food, movement, sleep, lower stress, and well-chosen herbs are where the real support lies. None of this will actually make you younger, and you won’t feel the benefits overnight.

Still, these everyday habits carry more weight than any home kit. They help your body age at a steadier pace, and they help you feel more like yourself along the way.