Lifestyle and economic conditions play an important role in shaping healthy ageing, but their effects may vary depending on your DNA, according to a new international study led by researchers at Adelaide University.
The study is the first of its kind to show that diet, exercise, sleep, smoking, education, work and social interactions all influence how we age, with varying effects depending on a person’s genes.
Researchers are focusing on a key indicator of healthy aging, “inner strength.”, which represents the sum total of all physical and mental energy used throughout life. This enables people to maintain healthy functioning and perform daily activities, such as personal care, household and living activities, and communication and recreational activities.
Using data collected from more than 13,000 participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), they found that healthy aging (higher natural ability) is associated with more physical activity, a healthy diet, higher education, employment and social participation.
On the other hand, low internal energy – or activity that has decreased with age – was associated with smoking and insufficient sleep time, including shorter and longer periods of sleep than recommended.
“Intrinsic ability, a hallmark of healthy aging, is influenced by a complex interaction between genetics and changing economic and social conditions,” said senior author Associate Professor Azmeraw Amare, a researcher at Adelaide University’s School of Medicine.
“Our findings suggest that genetic predisposition may affect the way in which lifestyle and lifestyle factors influence the available energy, highlighting the interplay between genetics and the environment that results in healthy aging.”
Both short and long sleep durations were found to be detrimental to healthy aging. The negative effect of short sleep was reduced among people with genetic advantages (carrying high genes for internal energy). On the other hand, the negative effect of sleeping for a long time for middle-aged people (45-64 years) was more visible, even though they had high genes for internal energy.
Following a Mediterranean-style diet and getting a higher education were very beneficial for long-term health, with consistent benefits even among people with a low genetic predisposition to internal stress.
“Genetic effects were more pronounced in midlife than in later life, suggesting that accumulated lifestyle and social exposure may play a more important role in determining functional ability as people age,” said first author Melkamu Bedimo Beyene, a PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide’s School of Medicine.
This is the first study to determine how interactions between genetics and lifestyle variables, such as diet quality, education level and sleep duration, are linked to inner strength.
“The good news is that some of these factors are changing. Our research findings can help develop targeted interventions to prevent and promote health for healthy aging.” said University of Adelaide Professor Renuka Visvanathan, who specializes in Geriatric Medicine.
“By focusing on maintaining the ability to work instead of waiting for the disease to develop, we can better support autonomy and quality of life throughout adulthood and later life.”
The findings were published in The Textbooks in Gerontology: Biological Sciences.
The team now plans to evaluate clinical and community health strategies that focus on life-changing conditions, and hopes that this will promote long-term health and early intervention to prevent functional decline.
Uncovering how healthy aging processes are shaped across the lifespan and exposed throughout life is important for developing policies that support functional capacity in older adults,”
Professor John Beard, Irene Diamond Professor of Productive Aging, Columbia University
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