{"id":4655,"date":"2026-09-16T23:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/replyguru.online\/?p=4655"},"modified":"2026-09-16T23:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:22:15","slug":"your-health-age-is-fake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/replyguru.online\/?p=4655","title":{"rendered":"Your \u2018health age\u2019 is fake"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n

This is <\/em>Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from <\/em>Verge senior reviewer<\/em> Victoria Song<\/em> that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they\u2019re going to change your life. Opt in for <\/em>Optimizer here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

During last week\u2019s Apple Watch announcement, I let out a distinct \u201cNoooo!\u201d in the Steve Jobs Theater. Along with a new readiness metric and a redesigned Health app, Apple had just announced that later this year, it\u2019d be introducing a new longevity feature called Health Age.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This is a familiar concept in the wearable and health tech world. The idea is that if you put effort into your health and fitness, your physiological age could be \u201cyounger\u201d than your chronological age. (Or older if you\u2019re not<\/em> putting in the effort.) Whoop has \u201cWhoop age.\u201d Oura has a \u201ccardiovascular age\u201d metric. My Withings scale just introduced various \u201clongevity intelligence\u201d features that include separate \u201cheart age\u201d and \u201cvascular age\u201d metrics. Garmin also has a \u201cfitness age score.\u201d At CES, I sat in front of a so-called longevity mirror that measured the blood flow in my face from a 30-second selfie to estimate my \u201cphysiological age\u201d and my \u201cfacial skin age.\u201d Earlier this week, I woke up and found out that my $5,000 smart mattress topper is also<\/em> estimating my \u201cbiological age.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

If you ask Whoop, I\u2019m supposedly 42. Over the past two years, Oura says my heart has been anywhere from seven years younger to 1.5 years younger than my chronological age. (It\u2019s currently sitting at two years younger.) Withings says my vascular age is a year older than I am, while my heart is four years younger. Garmin says my fitness age is 36.5 years old. That longevity mirror? My facial skin age was apparently 26 (sunscreen<\/em>, baby!), while my physiological age was 35. My very rude bed said I\u2019m \u201ctrending older\u201d this week at 38.7 years old.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

My actual age is 38 years old \u2014 and that\u2019s what I\u2019m sticking with.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I\u2019m not trying to rain on Apple\u2019s (or other wearable makers\u2019) parade. Frankly, I won\u2019t rule on Apple\u2019s version of the feature until I can test it for myself. I bring this all up to illustrate a point about when this type of feature can be genuinely helpful \u2014 and when you should treat it with a healthy dose of skepticism. As with most metrics, it\u2019s all in the framing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It\u2019s true that through a healthy diet, good sleeping habits, and regular exercise, your physiological condition might be better<\/em> than that of other people who are the same age and fit within a similar demographic. Depending on how a company defines its various longevity-related age scores, your results can identify areas where you can improve. For example, my Whoop age is somewhat cursed because it heavily weights strength training workouts in the algorithm. The last time I tested Whoop, I wasn\u2019t going super hard on lifting heavy and perhaps was a bit too into cardio. If I wanted my Whoop age to improve, lifting weights would\u2019ve been an easy way to tilt that number in my favor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"What<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What do you mean I will be 80.6 years old when I\u2019m 80?!<\/em><\/figcaption>Screenshot: Eight Sleep<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Objectively, recalibrating my training habits to be more balanced would be a good thing for my long-term health. If you leave it exactly at that, there\u2019s nothing wrong with this type of feature. But culturally speaking, that\u2019s not how these \u201chealth age\u201d scores work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The way I\u2019ve seen people talk about this metric largely hews toward fluffing up your ego. If your health age is older, you probably don\u2019t talk about it. It\u2019s \u201cshameful\u201d even though, really, it\u2019s not. That\u2019s because culturally \u2014 at least in the West \u2014 getting old isn\u2019t considered a good thing. If your health age is younger, it becomes something to bandy about. Apple\u2019s vice president of health, Sumbul Desai, even says in this Instagram Reel that Health Age could be something you brag about to your friends. That explains why tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, famous for his quest to never die, would post this absurd take on X about how aliens would struggle to distinguish him from his teenage son, alongside a chart titled \u201cIs Bryan Johnson More 18 or 49?\u201d Johnson is 49; he looks a little younger, maybe, and his metrics might be comparable to someone much younger on average, but his current state is ultimately just what 49 looks like for him<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Furthermore, your wearable-determined age is oftentimes not capturing the whole picture. You could game the Whoop Age metric to the letter, get your annual physical, and find out that your cholesterol level is through the roof. A reader once related this exact story to me. You could optimize all the controllable lifestyle health factors \u2014 diet, exercise, and sleep \u2014 like Bryan Johnson and still end up with autoimmune gastritis, as he has. Some of your health is encoded in your genetics, and while you can better the odds, your ultimate fate is not always something you can decide. We all know of someone who was healthy as a horse and died tragically young because of a freak accident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Personally, my various health ages have always indicated I\u2019m moderately younger than my chronological age. But even then, that\u2019s not an accurate picture of how I\u2019m aging either. I\u2019m definitely fitter now at 38 than I was at 18. As a teen, I couldn\u2019t even run a mile nonstop, and in my 30s, I have multiple half-marathons under my belt. But my bones also snap, crackle, and pop more. I can\u2019t pull all-nighters without<\/em> caffeine like I used to, even though I eat much healthier. It doesn\u2019t matter what potions I slather on my hair or what supplements I take; the grays keep coming. I was fitter last year, and my wearables all praised my consistent training to the point that I kept getting injured. I\u2019m less fit this year. I\u2019ve lost roughly 5 pounds of muscle, if smart scales are to be believed, but my metabolic biomarkers are all much, much, much healthier. To the point where earlier this week, my doctor patted me on the back and said she saw all the effort I\u2019d put in over the past year. Yet until recently, my wearables were all convinced my health was in a death spiral.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Health ages, I genuinely believe, were meant to be a helpful way of visualizing how small lifestyle changes can improve overall health as you age. But because they\u2019re all defined differently and use a range of parameters, they\u2019ve become these odd \u201cscores\u201d that can pass faulty judgments on how well you\u2019re doing. I look at my hodgepodge of \u201cages,\u201d and I can\u2019t tell you what any of it truly means.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"I<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I am proudly 38 years old in this photo and whatever my hair\u2019s doin\u2019, I feel pretty alright.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Not to get too philosophical, but time, as far as we know it, can only move forward. My rude bed is kind of right. Every week, I will be trending older because that\u2019s simply how time works. No matter the wearable metric or magic new drug, none of us is Benjamin Buttoning our way out of that fact.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Which brings me to my current philosophy: I am irreversibly 38, and am doing pretty alright if you ask me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Follow topics and authors<\/strong> from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.<\/span><\/p>\n
    \n
  • <\/svg><\/span>Victoria Song<\/span><\/span><\/span>
    \n