Your biological age score is just your app’s opinion and… yeah, while it’s cute and fun, that’s really it.
I just got a Hume Body Pod – Body Comp Smart Scale to try out for a partner, and when it said 33 years old for biological age, I got excited. I’m 44… I’m still 44 years old regardless of the cute techno algorithmic AI that gets spit back at me.
Plug the same biomarkers into a different algorithm, and you’ll most likely get a different number (ironically, everyone I plug into gives me a low age… not a humblebrag, I swear!)
The reason for the different numbers is that nobody/ai actually knows how to weigh insulin against VO2 max against your sleep score against your resting heart rate, etc. They’re guessing, but with that AI confident rizz that everyone is used to believing.
With nice graphs and a number that goes up/down when you eat well (or not) for a week. But it’s still guessing, and the thing they can’t measure is the stuff that actually matters:
- Can you run 10k (6 miles) on a Tuesday morning without your legs feeling like swollen bricks?
- Carrying the groceries up three (eight for me!) flights and still hold a conversation on the phone with your friend?
- Back up Saturday’s long run with a chill Sunday shakeout?
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the scores are fun. I love technology, algorithms, frameworks, heuristics, AI, and all that fun stuff.
Parkrun’s age-graded results are legit pretty dope because they let you race yourself across the years (maybe one day my pipe dream of beating my 37-year-old self’s best time actually comes true… one day!). Comparing your splits this year to last year, watching your easy pace drop while your heart rate stays the same, seeing your recovery times shrink across a training block- that stuff is the business!
But “I have a perfect sleep score, I’m killing it” is based on what? Your app? My app gave me a 62 and told me to drink more water… cool. The score is a scorecard and not a verdict. It’s definitely not a substitute for the only test that actually matters – whether your body still does the stuff you want it to do, when you want it to, at the speed/performance that you want it to.
And if you feel like there are too many numbers and not enough answers, do the below.
