Most people accept aging as a natural process. As time passes, hair turns white, wrinkles form on the skin, and stamina gradually declines. We often call this "the passage of time." But recent science has begun to shake this long-held belief. That is because studies are emerging suggesting that aging may be not merely a matter of time passing, but a process that can accelerate sharply at specific biological moments.
Recently, a research team at Stanford University in the United States released intriguing findings. The team tracked long-term changes in proteins and metabolites in the blood of people across various age groups. They found that there are two periods when biological changes related to aging markedly increase in the human body. The first period was around age 44, and the second was around age 60.
Scientists describe these periods as a kind of biological turning point. Although it may seem on the surface that we age a little each year, inside the body, multiple systems undergo stepwise reorganization at specific times.
Many people say, "You suddenly get old after forty." It used to be dismissed as just a feeling or a joke, but perhaps it reflects actual biological change. The reasons people notice a visible drop in skin elasticity, gain weight more easily, and recover more slowly than before may also be related to these changes.
But what is interesting is the shift in humanity's attitude. For a long time, people accepted aging as an unavoidable natural phenomenon. Lately, however, the mood has begun to change. Rather than simply accepting aging, efforts to delay and manage it as much as possible are becoming increasingly proactive.
Drugs in the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) class that aid in weight control are spreading worldwide, and biotech startups based on longevity research are growing rapidly. Scientists have begun to view aging not as the mere passage of time but as a biological process that can be managed. Some scientists even see aging as a form of disease and argue it should be treated.
In fact, humans have been fighting aging for a long time. Glasses were a solution to presbyopia, and dental care was a technology that slowed tooth aging. The culture of dyeing hair and caring for the skin falls in the same vein. Looking back at the history of medicine and technology, it can ultimately be seen as an accumulation of countless attempts to delay aging.
Dermatology is the field where the front line formed first. Procedures such as lasers, Botox, fillers, and skin boosters can be seen as medical efforts to slow the progression of skin aging, beyond simple cosmetics. Changes once explained by saying "there's nothing you can do as you get older" are increasingly becoming manageable biological phenomena.
Of course, there is still no technology that can completely stop aging. But an important shift is already underway. We no longer live in an era that simply accepts getting old. Science is revealing the structure of aging step by step, and medicine is producing diverse ways to slow it down.
So perhaps the question will change going forward. Not "How long can we live?" but "How late can we grow old?"
Aging remains an inescapable process. But rather than a fate we must simply yield to, it is increasingly becoming a biological problem to understand and address. And that change has already begun quietly in our lives.