Should you get epigenetic testing?

What is your cellular age and how would it change your lifestyle if you knew?

We all know that smoking, drinking, high stress, lack of sleep, and exposure to toxic chemicals makes people age quickly and now there is a test to quantify this aging, the epigenetic test. Compare your chronological age to your epigenetic cellular age and you can see into the fortunetellers crystal ball! If you are 40 and your epigenetic age is 60 then you have been given a final warning to clean up your act before its too late. If you are 40 and your epigenetic age is 25, then well done! Keep doing what you are doing because its well worth the sacrifices and effort!

To test or not to test?

We are faced all the time with the decision of whether to get a test or not. Should we get an ultrasound of our 17 year old Shih Tzu to see if he has liver cancer? Should we get a MRI of our lower back to see what is the cause of our lower spine pain? Should we get our engine oil tested to see anything is prematurely failing? Should we get an epigenetic test? There are two camps here and its tough for them to understand the others perspective.

Perspective 1: Only do the test if it will change your actions.

Showing my hand here, I am an engineer and I am 100% in this camp. I will never get a test unless the result will change my action plan. Lets look at the above examples from this person’s perspective:

• Get ultrasound of 17 year old dog to see if they have liver cancer. No, don’t test. If it was cancer, a 17 year old dog is too old to operate on anyway so why make our pet suffer thru an ultrasound?

• Get an MRI of your lower back to see what is causing lower back pain. Nope, don’t test. Lower back surgery has such a pathetically low success rate that I would never consider it anyway so why bother getting the MRI? Just go to physical therapy.

• Get engine oil tested to see if anything is prematurely failing. Yes! Do it! Finding a failing part before it fails can save thousands of dollars and perhaps save a life.

• Get an epigenetic test to see our cellular age. No, don’t do it. We already know all the things that are required for a healthy lifestyle and should be doing them regardless of what the test results are.

Perspective 2: Test now, I need to know!

Some people just need to know. They need this information to be mentally prepared for what is coming, even if they cannot do anything to prevent it.

Questions to ask before getting epigenetic testing

1. If you are already exercising, eating healthy minimally processed natural foods, minimizing stress, getting enough sleep, not smoking, and not drinking alcohol then how would affect you to know that your efforts have been “wasted” and that you are aging way faster than the calendar indicates you should be? Would you double down and try even harder? Would you just argue with the results and insist on getting another test that “proves” you are really young inside? Would you simply give up, stop the “health freak” stuff, and experiment with pot and psychedelics?

2. If you know what a healthy lifestyle requires but you are not doing it, how would affect you to know that you are aging way faster than the calendar indicates you should be? Would this be the wake up call you need to get off your duff and get healthy? Would it just depress you and make you try even less?

Do you miss drinking?

People ask if I miss drinking, hell yes! I stopped 8 months ago because the doctor noticed elevated liver enzymes and suggested I lower my alcohol consumption to 3 glasses of wine a week. Like with sugar, its much easier for me to totally stop than to limit consumption. My “trigger” for drinking was being in a really good happy mood which for me is pretty much all the time. Worst is sitting with my husband in the evening by our pool with the beautiful view, landscape lighting, and music.

How is alcohol related to epigenetic testing? The reason I don’t want to get an epigenetic test is that I am already doing everything I can to live a healthy lifestyle. My fear is that if the test came back and said that I was an 90 year old living in a 65year olds body, I would throw up my hands and start drinking again despite the fact my brain knows that is totally idiotic.

Know yourself

There is no right or wrong answer to whether you should get epigenetic testing or not. For me, its not a good idea but for you, it might be just what you need. One thing to take into account is the cost and accuracy. It is expensive, about $400 per test. Because the accuracy is suspect in my opinion, I would suggest testing 3-4 times from each of two different companies for a total of 6-8 tests to get a good average. $3,000 is a lot of money but if that is what it takes to get you to start living a healthy lifestyle, its probably the best investment you will ever make.

IMO, the only wrong use of an epigenetic test is to get it done so that you can brag about how young you are on social media :)

Should you get epigenetic testing?

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