A leading expert explains how your nails can offer crucial insights into your overall health
A longevity expert has revealed that he closely monitors his fingernails because they serve as a helpful gauge of how fast he is aging.
When I think about aging, I tend to view it in a straightforward way—if I reach another birthday, then another year has passed. That’s just how time works.
But Dr. David Sinclair, an expert on longevity, takes a different approach. He believes that keeping an eye on his nails provides valuable insight into how quickly his body is aging, and ultimately, how much time he may have left.
Most of us don’t give much thought to our fingernails when thinking about our health. We tend to focus on bigger concerns like our heart, lungs, fitness, and diet, while our nails are often overlooked.
However, Dr. Sinclair, a Harvard Medical School geneticist, emphasizes that nail health can actually be a crucial indicator of how efficiently the body is producing new healthy cells.
He explained that a faster rate of new cell generation offers greater protection against age-related decline and deterioration.
Biological aging refers to the process of how old the cells and tissues in your body appear based on how well they function, rather than simply how many years you have lived.
It’s important to understand that your biological age may be quite different from your actual chronological age.
Speaking on his podcast Lifespan, Dr. Sinclair said: “The rate of your nail growth is a really good indicator of how you’re ageing or not ageing.”
Your nails can reveal just how quickly you are aging
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“I do pay attention to whether my nails are slowing down in their growth or not. Every time I have to cut my nails, I’m thinking, ‘how long ago did I cut my nails?'”
During the podcast, he referenced a study conducted in 1979 in which scientists tracked fingernail growth rates among hundreds of participants over a long period.
The researchers discovered that, on average, the rate of weekly fingernail growth decreased by approximately 0.5% per year after the age of 30.
According to the study’s findings, individuals whose nails grow at a faster rate than this might be aging at a slower-than-average pace.
In addition to aging insights, nails can also reveal warning signs of underlying health conditions.
Since nail characteristics vary from person to person, experts advise keeping an eye out for any significant changes in shape, texture, or color.
Your nails can show more about your health than you’d think
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For example, a dark spot beneath the nail could be an early sign of melanoma, a type of skin cancer.
Meanwhile, white spots or streaks on the nails might indicate a deficiency in essential nutrients such as calcium, iron, or zinc.