How Old Are You, Really?

You get older every day. But how old are your cells and organs, really?

Understanding that could help us live longer, healthier lives, many longevity experts believe. Dr. Douglas Vaughan is among them. He is the director of Northwestern University’s Potocsnak Longevity Institute and its Human Longevity Laboratory, where people can go to get their so-called biological age calculated. By gleaning whether a 50-year-old person’s cells and organs look more like a 65-year-old’s—or a 30-year-old’s—scientists like Vaughan hope to pinpoint treatments and lifestyle changes to help people live healthier for longer, a notion known among longevity enthusiasts as “healthspan.”

Vaughan believes that researchers are getting close to being able to find treatments to slow or even reverse aging in people.