Wednesday, August 18, 2021
When Do You Start To Get "Old"?
There was a bit of a buzz last week with the publication of a new study about metabolism. What We Think We Know About Metabolism May Be Wrong explains the recent study: "[u]sing data from nearly 6,500 people, ranging in age from 8 days to 95 years, researchers discovered that there are four distinct periods of life, as far as metabolism goes. They also found that there are no real differences between the metabolic rates of men and women after controlling for other factors."
We probably only think about our metabolisms when we are trying to lose weight. But as the article explains, the implications are far beyond weight gain and loss.
Central to [the researchers'] findings was that metabolism differs for all people across four distinct stages of life.
There’s infancy, up until age 1, when calorie burning is at its peak, accelerating until it is 50 percent above the adult rate.
Then, from age 1 to about age 20, metabolism gradually slows by about 3 percent a year.
From age 20 to 60, it holds steady.
And, after age 60, it declines by about 0.7 percent a year.
For us in elder law, here is the point: "And around age 60, no matter how young people look, they are changing in a fundamental way...'There is a myth of retaining youth, [one expert said] That’s not what the biology says. In and around age 60, things start to change. ... There is a time point when things are no longer as they used to be.'"
Thanks to Professor Naomi Cahn for sending the link to the article.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/elder_law/2021/08/when-do-you-start-to-get-old.html