United States: In a recent report, experts stated that one could discover the lifetime duration, and the study outcome demonstrated that the answer resides at one’s fingertips.
More about the news
Your nails function as a transparent indicator of biological age, according to Dr. David Sinclair, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.
“The rate of your nail growth is a really good indicator of how you’re aging or not aging,” as stated Dr. Sinclair.
“Every time I have to cut my nails, I’m thinking, ‘How long ago did I cut my nails?'” he continued, as the New York Post reported.
What more is the expert stating?
Specifically, Sinclair referenced research from 1979 that used small measuring tools on 271 subjects to track their nail growth data across multiple years.
The scientific study revealed that human fingernail growth slows down by half a percentage point every year since reaching thirty years of age.
Your fingernail growth rate functions as an easy, noninvasive method to monitor biological age that indicates body cell and tissue functionality compared to chronological age represented by your total years lived.
Health concerns linked to nails
Your nails naturally experience slowdown and brittleness, with color changes from white to yellowish as you age. Your nails can present health concerns through specific changes that might signal underlying medical problems.
Anemia and liver disease, as well as heart failure and malnutrition, can all manifest through white or pale nails, the New York Post reported.
Yellow nail pigment may develop from fungal infections, thyroid disease, or diabetes conditions.
The natural aging process tends to create vertical ridges on nails, yet this condition might additionally point to nutritional deficiencies together with autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.
Clubbing affects nails, so they become curved and enlarged, thus suggesting possible diagnoses of lung diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular diseases, and liver problems.
A slow growth rate of your nails often points to aging problems, but weak nails that break frequently require additional examinations from medical experts.
Dr. Mary Stevenson from NYU Langone Dermatology notes that several variables create the combination of weak nailing that breaks easily.
“We need our cuticles. Pushing these back and removing them separate the seal they make with our nail to keep things like bacteria and fungi out,” Stevenson added.