You can now see if your body thinks it’s as old as your birth certificate says.
Northwestern Medicine opened to the public its Human Longevity Clinic in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood on Monday.
To determine your biological age - instead of your chronological one - doctors will test cognitive functions, organs, bones and blood.
Medical Director Dr. Baljash Cheema says with those biomarkers, they will look for underlying diseases or conditions and recommend changes in exercise, diet and lifestyle.
They plan to repeat some tests in six months to check progress.
This level of testing is usually reserved for research studies.
Dr. Douglas Vaughan, director of the Potocsnak Longevity Institute at Northwestern’s medical school, found years ago a group of Amish people in eastern Indiana who are missing a protein in their blood live longer and healthier lives than their neighbors.
“For the first time in human history, we have the opportunity to shift the medical paradigm from reactive treatment of disease to proactive extension of healthspan” he says.
Dr. Cheema thinks the tests can be a wake-up call to patients.
He says it’s a chance to change behaviors before they progress into chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, kidney disease, and coronary artery disease.