Biological Age Reset

I break down biological age versus chronological age and explain why the way your body functions matters more than the number on your birthday cake. I also share the small, consistent habits I use to feel better now, plus a few practical tools and tests you can try this week.
• chronological age as birthdays and biological age as body function 
• why lifestyle shows up in inflammation, cholesterol, metabolism, and energy 
• how biological age tests work and what they measure 
• using medication as a tool rather than a bragging point 
• focusing on small consistent habits instead of perfection 
• movement, walking, and strength work to protect function 
• sleep as a major driver of healthy aging and recovery 
• stress management through friends, faith, and daily routines 
• food without guilt and a realistic 75/25 approach 
• simple AARP style functional tests to gauge biological age 
Make sure you follow, share with a friend, and come back next week. 
Go out and do something positive.

Transcript

Welcome And What Matters Today

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hello, and welcome to AGNA for Sissies. My name is Marcy Bacchus, and I am your host. I want to thank you for being here today. We got some fun things to talk about today. We're going to talk about your biological age versus your real age and why it matters. And I want to welcome you back to AGNA for Sissies, the podcast where we say the quiet parts out loud about getting older. And we do it with a whole lot of humor, a little bit of sass, and zero patience for nonsense. I am your host, Marcy. And around here, we are not trying to be 25 again. We are trying to feel good, live smart, and actually enjoy this stage of life. Because let's be honest, aging isn't for sissies, but it can be done intentionally. And you know what? That's exactly what I'm trying to do here. All right. Okay. So let me just tell you a little bit what's been going on. Um, last week I was in Arizona, Arizona, blah blah blah. I was in Colorado visiting our son Alec. I was able to also visit my great nephew Chris, who's going to Colorado School of the Mines. I got to go to a rock museum. It was pretty exciting. I didn't know there were so many different kinds of rocks. It was pretty fabulous. Chris was excited to show us his campus. We were able to go out to dinner that night with his girlfriend and his mom, my niece Angie, and we had a great time. It was really fun. The six of us at a table, Craig, myself, and Alec as well. And good food, good laugh, good conversation, and enjoying the adult that my great nephew Chris is becoming was really delightful. He took good care of his Aunt Marcy, walking around the campus between just getting there super late. Well, early that morning, 2 a.m. actually, on Friday, we got there. And uh the altitude and being a little person of a certain age, I was a little slow, but I did it. And Chris took good care of me. So I appreciate that. Flying is always a treat, as we all know, but everything went well. Flew over Oklahoma during a really nasty thunderstorm. And it was really weird when we landed. And the next day, I heard about a tornado, and I honestly think we flew right over it. It was crazy. But that is what's happening with me. Life is good. Uh, Craig and I just today started something new. I um, well, obviously last week we talked about working out, but or did we talk about that in my other podcast? Anyhow, um, I Craig likes to have dinner, and I could do without dinner. So I made a proposal and we started it today. Is I'm gonna come home from the gym. I get home around 12. I'm gonna have dinner on the table by one. That'll be a big lunch. And then when dinner time comes, string cheese, some yogurt, whatever anybody feels like they can have. But I'm gonna do my main cooking or my main meal around one o'clock every day. Because what happens with me is I can't eat before I work out. This morning I had some um low carb toast and I felt awful in the pool again. I cannot eat before I work out. And then when I get home, I'm ravenous. So I would eat a lunch and try to control my lunch, but I was super hungry because I knew I had to make dinner. So changing that up, we are now eating, and it worked out great today. Craig um works at the cathedral across the street. And he came home and we had our dinner, lunch, supper, whatever you want to call it. He went back to work. I took an I cleaned up, took a quick nap, and I'm doing my podcast. So I think it's gonna work out great. I really do. I think it it makes me happier. Right now, I it's 4:30. I'm working on my podcast. I don't have to think, oh my gosh, at five, I've got to stop, make dinner. I don't have to anymore. So that's kind of a big exciting change in my life. So what I'm the reason I'm telling you all this is because if there's a change you want to make in your life, especially at this age, do it. If you don't want to eat dinner, if you just want to have charcuterie for dinner, if you whatever life in your life you want to change, I encourage you to make that change. Now, I knew with Craig it wasn't going to be easy because he's a three-meal a main day man, but he he knows better right now than to cross me. So ha ha ha. He said yes, but he actually said he enjoyed it today and he was glad we did it. So moving forward, I'll let you know how it goes. All right. So let me ask you something. What if I told you your age, whatever it may be, isn't really your age? You're gonna say, oh yes, it is, Marcy, I was born in blah, blah, blah. Well, I mean, yes, technically it is, but there's something called your biological age. And it might be younger than you think, it may be older than you want, or completely different than the number on your birthday cake. And today we're talking about what that actually means and why it matters more than you think. Okay, what is biological age in normal people language? Let's keep it simple. Chronological age is how many birthdays you've had, your biological age is how your body is actually functioning. So you can be 65 like I am chronologically, but functioning like 55, or 50 chronologically, but actually functioning at 65. And that's the part people don't always realize. You're, you know, your age is just a number, you've heard that it is. Your lifestyle shows up in your body, not in a judgy way, but in a real way. Okay, so if you think what you did in your 20s didn't matter, it does. If you are making poor eating choices, it shows up. It shows up in a real way. All right, I want to do a quick side note before we go any deeper. A couple of episodes ago, I uh two episodes ago, I did an episode on traveling. I just want to remind you on my website, MarcyBacchusmedia.com, there's an easy printable, actual helping guide to getting yourself ready to travel. So I want to remind you that that's there on my website. All right. So great, Marcy. Thanks for letting me know. I have a biological age. It may be worse, it may be better. Well, here you go. How do we figure it out? These biological age tests look at things like blood markers, inflammation, cholesterol, metabolism, and sometimes even DNA markers. Basically, they're measuring how worn your body is versus how old you are. And yes, that's a little uncomfortable to hear. But it's also kind of empowering because guess what? A lot of that is changeable. You can change your numbers, you can change your metabolism, you can change the inflammation, you can change your cholesterol, you can change these things. Now, I've heard a lot of people go, well, I don't take any medication and they're all proud of themselves. Well, big whoop for you. I do. I take blood pressure medicine, but guess what? I have controlled blood pressure. So my chronological age and my biological age, I have some control over. I don't have over the chronological, but I do over the biological. So don't be all proud of yourself that you don't take medication. You may need it, and it may help you. This is not about perfection. Now, before we all spiral, this is not about being perfect. This is not. It's not about never eating anything fun, working out two hours a day, or turning into a completely different person. No, this is about small, consistent habits because those add up over time. And here's the good news you don't need to do everything, you just need to do a few things consistently. So, this is where I want to point out it's not about doing it all, it's about doing a few things, but that word that was really important in there was consistency. All right, consistency. That's important. Now, this week I'm gonna tell you what I'm not doing anymore. I'm not explaining myself. Okay, that's it. I'm not doing it anymore, and I'm not gonna explain to you why I'm just not right there. That alone lowers my stress, which probably helps my biological age too. Okay, all kidding aside, and my weekly, I'm not doing this anymore aside. Let's talk about what actually impacts your biological age. And here's a spoil alert: it's stuff that we already know. First thing, movement. You do not need to become a marathon runner, but you do need to move your body, stay active, and build strength. And yes, I know weights. As I talked about in my I hate to exercise, I am doing weights, I hate them, but I'm doing them. Why? Because I want to keep my biological age down. So again, first thing, movement. Now, I am lucky living here in the city of Chicago. We walk 90% of everywhere we go, it automatically helps you stay active. But you need to build that strength. Sleep. This one matters more than we want it to. If you're not sleeping, consistently tired, or running on fumes, your body feels it. That is killing your biological age. Now, um, I just found something in Colorado this week, and we were walking in downtown Golden, and a guy hands me a little sample of this cream. He goes, Oh, here's some magnesium cream. This helps with body's aches and pains. He said, Also, if you put it on the bottom of your feet before you go to bed, you'll sleep great. Guess what? I ordered it online when I got home because that little sample he gave me, even in a hotel, I will tell you it didn't make me go to sleep faster. But once I was asleep, I was asleep well. I will put their company link. They have in the package they sent me. I got CBD eye cream, all kinds of stuff. But I'm telling you, I put this on the bottom of my feet at night and I am sleeping soundly. So soundly that Patrick this morning decided to take all 23 pounds and three legs of his and lay right on my chest and talk right into my face. Meow. Meow. Well, that was thanks to that new cream. So I will put a link to their website on my website, and that is Marcybackismedia.com. All right, stress, chronic stress ages you, period. So all that worrying, overthinking, holding everything in, it shows up physically. This is why having a group of friends is important, where you can share things, you can talk about things, you can relieve yourself of that stress. So keeping your biological age down, having a group of friends, so pool pals out there that listen to this, we are helping each other's biological age by having coffee every time after we work out. Sitting up there at 900 Michigan and chatting about all things that we chat about keeps our biological age down. Food without the drama. This is not about perfection, it's about mostly eating things that support your body and not eating, not beating yourself up when you don't. So eat 75% of the time, eat the right stuff, 25% of the time don't. And don't beat yourself up. Remember, that was one of my things. I'm not beating myself up when I eat something fun. And one of the things that I love most about going out with Alec, my son loves to eat and he eats well, but he shares desserts with me. And that is the best. Craig doesn't like desserts, and I do, but I don't want to eat the whole thing. And Alec and I shared a carrot cake. We shared an almond cake. Um, I loved it. I loved it. But don't beat yourself up when you don't. What's some other biological things? The mindset shift. Here's what I want to talk about on this. This isn't about trying to be younger, it's about feeling better in the body you have because chasing youth is exhausting. But improving how you feel, that's doable. That is absolutely doable. All right, here's a little commercial, a quick pause because I want to make sure you know where else you can find me. If you're enjoying this conversation, I've got two other podcasts you need to check out. Inside Marcy's Mind, where we talk about life hacks, real life solutions, and all things we're trying to figure out, but nobody's really saying out loud. I've talked about the constitution, I've talked about traveling, I've talked about everything. And unbottled, which is all about sobriety, real talk, and what it actually looks like to change your life. Everything lives over on my website, so you can keep up with all of it in one place. Go check it out. And then come right back here and listen. Let's be real for a second. What can't we can't control everything? Genetics, life, things that happen. Nope. But we can control how we take care of ourselves, how we manage stress, and how we move through our days. So I'm going to tell you how I take care of myself as I go to the gym five times a week. Two of those days I do a full body workout before I do my pool workout. I'm in the pool five days a week. I walk most places that I go. How I manage my stress is sharing with my friends church. My belief in God is another way that I manage my stress. My life is not stress-free, but I have ways of managing it. And how I move through my days. Like I said, after I cleaned up, got the dishwasher going, things straightened up around the house, I took a nap. I started watching TV, took a nap, got up, and started these podcasts. All of that matters more than we think. So I want to tell you if you are a member of AARP, there are a set of tests in their magazine this week that help you figure out your biological age. Things like are you able to stand up from a chair without using your hands? Are you able to get up off the ground? There are a set of measurable tests in there that help you figure out your biological age. So feel free to take that. I will also put a link to that on my website. So if you if you hear this idea of biological age and think, okay, now what? Start small, move a little more, stress a little less, take care of yourself like you matter, because you do. And around here, we're not aging quietly, we're aging intentionally. I want to thank you for spending this time with me today. If this episode made you think, rethink, or maybe take one small step towards feeling better, I'm happy. Make sure you follow, share with a friend, and come back next week. You never know what I'm going to talk about because we've got a lot more life to live, and we're going to do it our way. I'll see you next time. On Aging A for Sissy. Go out and do something positive.