Menopause accelerates aging.

Does aging cause menopause, or does menopause accelerate aging? Until recently, this question resembled the popular dilemma of whether the egg or the chicken came first. Today, however, scientists know the answer: the processes associated with menopause can indeed accelerate ageing. Is there anything we can do to prevent this?

While the chronological age can be easily determined from the ID card, the biological age was until recently only a subjective concept defined by appearance and physical health – simply something along the lines of “he looks at least ten years younger”. Recently, however, a team led by genetics professor Steve Horvath has developed a method that can accurately define biological age using the so-called epigenetic clock.

As we age, chemical changes take place in our DNA (in particular methylation), which changes the activity of many important genes. This is associated not only with changes in our appearance (e.g. wrinkles) but also with an increased risk of a number of serious diseases.

However, research following more than 3,000 women for 15 years has shown that while men’s epigenetic clock ticks regularly, so that ageing is gradual, women’s ageing is accelerated by an average of 6% by menopause-related processes (1).

The elixir of youth? No, a lifestyle!

Fortunately, there are weapons that can be used to significantly slow down our epigenetic clock. In fact, the rate of gene methylation and other epigenetic processes is very closely related to lifestyle. So what can play a role in this regard?

Obesity – Excess body fat causes epigenetic changes in gene methylation and histone acetylation that increase the risk of many diseases. Maintaining an optimal weight is therefore far from just a matter of appearance.

Smoking – this habit significantly increases the methylation of a number of genes and thus not only accelerates ageing, but also increases the risk of a number of serious diseases (2).

Movement – regular physical exercise, in turn, causes positive epigenetic changes that reduce the risk of many diseases and slow down ageing on both a physical and mental level.

Dietary supplements – there are many substances in nature with significant epigenetic effects. One very useful example is resveratrol, which has a positive effect not only on the outward signs of ageing (e.g. wrinkles) but also on changes that increase the risk of civilisation diseases, especially heart and vascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease (3-6).