Huffingtonpost iconHuffingtonpostSep 25, 2026 ~1 min source read

Researchers Think Our Eyes Could Reveal How Rapidly We're Ageing

You already know your chronological age (the amount of years you've been alive). Working out your biological age – the "wear and tear happening inside the body at a cellular and molecular level" – isn't as simple as counting candles on a cake.

Researchers Think Our Eyes Could Reveal How Rapidly We're Ageing

Share this story

Send the public story page.

Useful takeaways from this story.

You already know your chronological age (the amount of years you've been alive).

Working out your biological age – the "wear and tear happening inside the body at a cellular and molecular level" – isn't as simple as counting candles on a cake.

Scientists think that how long we can stand on one leg may reveal how well our brains are doing, for instance.

Building the complete brief

The page is ready to read now. The fuller skim-friendly version will appear here automatically.

The useful part

You already know your chronological age (the amount of years you've been alive). Working out your biological age – the "wear and tear happening inside the body at a cellular and molecular level" – isn't as simple as counting candles on a cake. Scientists think that how long we can stand on one leg may reveal how well our brains are doing, for instance.

How it works

  • Now, researchers have suggested that a scan of the retina, or the light-sensitive tissue at the back of our eyes, could give us a good guess at people's biological ageing, too.
  • As a result, scientists have been using the area to gauge people's health status for years now.

Details worth keeping

The retina is closely linked to brain and heart health. The difference between a person's biological retin...

Keep reading in the app

Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.

Open in app