When Science Finally Caught Up With My Birthdays

Birthdays have never bothered me. The numbers got bigger, but I always felt like me. People often ask, “So how does 20 feel?” or “How does 60 feel?” Honestly for me the answer has always been pretty much like 19 or 59.

Until…

One birthday in my thirties. I can’t remember the exact year, but I clearly remember the awareness and the moment. Nothing dramatic happened. I hadn’t gained weight. I simply noticed my body looked different. My waist and hips seemed to have quietly negotiated a merger. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good. It was noticeable, at least to me. I did not dwell on it. I noticed it, accepted it as part of the aging process, and moved on.

Years later, sometime in my sixties, another birthday brought another surprise. This time it was my face. Also, somewhere along the way I had lost nearly three inches in height. Again there was nothing I could fix, I thought. It simply felt like another season had arrived.

I remember mentioning to my daughter that that particular birthday in my 60s made me realize aging comes with some physical changes that we do not get to vote on.

Life continued.

Then last month I turned 84. A couple of months prior to my birthday, I began noticing something new. Not pain. Not illness. Just… a little less zip. I found myself moving a bit slower, recovering a little longer, thinking a little more carefully before tackling certain projects. Once again I mentioned it to my daughter. Then something funny happened.

Suddenly articles began to appear in my feed showing that our bodies don’t age in one slow, steady decline. Scientific evidence shows that human aging happens in rapid waves rather than a steady, slow crawl. Research identifies three major milestones when the body shifts gears and experiences dramatic, universal biological changes.

A well-known Stanford Medicine study discovered these three biological turning points by testing the blood of thousands of people. Blood contains proteins that do important jobs in the body. The study found that the levels of these proteins stay the same for years. Then at ages 34, 60, and 78, the protein levels suddenly shift. These shifts change how our organs work and how we heal.

Researchers describe this like the seasons changing. Instead of a gradual fade from summer to fall, the body leaps into a new “season” of aging.

I laughed.

Not because my birthday matched the research exactly. Because it didn’t. But because my body had been quietly telling me this story for decades.

Only now did science hand me a vocabulary for what I had already noticed. I thought maybe trying to take care of myself delayed the shifts. Maybe not. Honestly I don’t know. But if my body waited until 84 to whisper, “Let’s slow the pace just a little,” I’ll take that as a pretty good bargain.

One thing has not changed. I am still curious. I still walk 2–3 miles a day. I still lift weights and practice my balance and yoga three times a week. I still laugh, and I still have many projects that I am involved in. And I still wake up every morning wondering what ordinary life will teach me today.

Maybe that’s the biggest lesson. We cannot always choose the season our bodies enter, but we can choose how we greet it. I am planning to greet this one with comfortable shoes and curiosity, and continue enjoying the nourishment of a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle.

💚 The Accidental Blogger