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Related Experiment Videos

How fast do we age? Exercise performance over time as a biomarker

W M Bortz1, W M Bortz

  • 1Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina Medical Center, Chapel Hill, USA.

The Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences
|September 1, 1996
PubMed
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Masters athletes show a consistent 0.5% annual decline in performance, suggesting a basic biomarker for human aging. This rate reflects true chronologic functional change, unaffected by illness.

Area of Science:

  • Gerontology
  • Exercise Physiology
  • Biomarkers of Aging

Background:

  • True aging rates in humans are obscured by data from unhealthy individuals.
  • Masters athletes provide a suitable cohort for studying age-related functional decline.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the rate of age-related performance decline in humans.
  • To identify a potential biomarker for the aging process.

Main Methods:

  • Collected performance data from running, rowing, and swimming events across different age groups.
  • Plotted performance decline as a percentage from age 35 to establish age-related decay slopes.

Main Results:

  • Observed a consistent decline rate of 0.5% per year across diverse athletic events.

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  • The decay slopes for different strenuous activities showed remarkable similarity.

    • Conclusions:

    • The 0.5% annual performance decline may serve as a fundamental biomarker of human aging.
    • This rate is consistent across various physiological systems and validated by measures like VO2 max.