3 Reasons You Age Faster in Your 60s

New research suggests an aging “burst” takes place during this milestone decade

Kimberly Goad,

AARP

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Published September 13, 2024

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The aging process is a slow and steady march that begins pretty much from the moment you’re born but doesn’t become apparent until you reach your golden years — right? Actually, no.

Recent research published in the journal Nature Aging suggests that much of the aging process isn’t gradual. Instead, it occurs in two bursts: once in your mid-40s and again at age 60. It’s during these times that our body’s molecules and microorganisms go through two massive shifts, researchers from Stanford Medicine discovered, and these changes likely influence our health.

Looking at people in their 60s, the researchers found significant changes in molecules related to metabolism, immune function, kidney function — even skin and muscle health. So if, in your 60s, you wake up suddenly feeling a little weaker or wrinklier, it may not be your imagination.

Here’s a look at three big age-related changes that occur in your 60s.

1. The immune system declines

Getting colds more easily? Finding that simple wounds take a while to heal?

At age 60, your immune system undergoes dramatic aging-related changes — “a rapid decline,” the study’s authors note — that continuously progress to a state of what’s known as immunosenescence, a process of immune dysfunction that happens with age.

That leaves you more vulnerable to cardiovascular disease, cancer and infections, among other health woes. Making matters worse, older people have fewer naive T cells — the part of your immune system that fights off new viruses, like the coronavirus — so vaccines don’t work as well in people over 60.

“Your immune system is absolutely critical for preventing cancer, cardiovascular disease, basically everything,” says Michael Snyder, a genetics professor at Stanford Medicine and senior author on the Nature Aging study. “COVID is a good example. Most young people bounce back from COVID just fine, but when you’re older, your immune system isn’t as strong, and you can get clobbered.”

2. Heart health deteriorates

At 60, it’s not uncommon for your blood vessels and arteries to stiffen, which means your heart has to work harder to pump blood through them. To accommodate the increased workload, the heart muscles change. And although your resting heart rate — the number of heartbeats per minute when you’re doing nothing — doesn’t really change with normal aging, your heart won’t beat as fast during physical activity or when you’re stressed. All of the above increases your risk for high blood pressure (hypertension) and other cardiovascular problems.

“Regular exercise, following a healthy diet and managing your blood pressure when you’re young helps your heart develop resilience so that if something does happen — like stress, a blockage, or you’re taking medicine that causes you to have fluid on your heart — it’s either lessened or you don’t experience symptoms at all, ” says Kenneth Koncilja, M.D., a geriatrician at Cleveland Clinic and assistant professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University. “Your whole cardiovascular system will be more resilient.”

3. Muscle mass declines

Muscle mass and strength peak in your early to mid-30s, but then after that they begin to decline — slowly at first, and then faster after the age of 60.

Sarcopenia, or age-related muscle loss, “is the single most critical contributor to loss of independence as we get older,” Koncilja says. “In health care, we’ve done a huge disservice to our patients over the last 30 years with such an overemphasis on cardio and so much reliance on BMI [body mass index].”

That’s not to say you should give up endurance exercise. But “strength training is very important for everybody,” Koncilja says. “I have patients who are exercising and working out in their 80s and 90s who have less chronic disease and are more independent. People with memory problems and dementia, we don’t have a treatment, but we know that one intervention slowed progression, and that was exercise.”

There is a secret to aging well, no matter the actual age. “It’s maintaining activity — cognitive, physical, social,” says Angela Catic, M.D., associate professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and associate chief of staff for education at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center. “These are the things we can do to live longer, more functional healthy lives while we learn more about what’s going on metabolically that we may or may not have the ability to impact,” Catic says.

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Kimberly Goad is a New York-based journalist who has covered health for some of the nation’s top consumer publications. Her work has appeared in Women’s Health, Prevention, Health and Reader's Digest.