How long will you live? Doctors recommend an easy way to observe: “fingernails” are an important sign.
Longevity expert says fingernails are an important sign of longevity
Unless you’re someone who needs to get their nails done every two to three weeks, many of us don’t pay much attention to our fingernails. But in fact, our fingernails can give us a good indication of how long we have left in our lives, according to longevity experts.
Dr. David Sinclair is a well-known figure in genetics and is known for his research into what causes aging and how to slow its effects, and has taught at Harvard Medical School since 1999.
A 55-year-old Australian professor says you can find out how much energy you have left just by looking at how your fingernails are growing.
“The rate at which your nails grow is a very good indicator of whether you’re getting older,” Dr. Sinclair said on an episode of his Lifespan podcast.
“Every time I have to cut my nails, I think, when was the last time I cut them?”
He explains that the health of your nails can tell you a lot about your body’s rate of healthy new cell production, and the faster this สมัคร ufabet กับเรา รับโบนัสทันที process happens, the better.
According to Dr. Sinclair, faster cell turnover means a younger biological age because as we age, this process slows down.
“This all came from a study done in 1979 where they put little test strips on people’s nails and measured the results over a period of years,” the expert said.
Research has found that fingernail growth rates decline by about 0.5% each year after the participants reach age 30.
“And from studies of thousands of people. We now know that nail growth rate decreases by about 0.5% per year,” Dr. Sinclair continued.
“If you measure it, it’s a very good indicator of what your biological age is.”
Dr Sinclair admits that while he doesn’t measure his nails right now. He is “concerned to see if they are still growing as fast as they used to.”
Podcast co-host Matthew Laplante admitted that he doesn’t keep track of his fingernails either. Saying: “I bite my nails, which I know is a really bad habit.”
Basically, science suggests that if our nails are still growing faster than other people our age. Then we may be aging slower than them.
As we age, our bodies produce less keratin. Which can weaken our nails, says Dr. Micheal Henry, founder of Skin and Aesthetic Surgery of Manhattan.
“As we age, our bodies produce less of the natural protein found in nails. Which makes them brittle and more prone to breakage,” she previously told Huff Post.
“These keratin proteins are also found in the roots of our hair. Which is why we often see changes in the texture of our hair as we age.”