Glossary

Written by Steve Fayzulayev. Clinically reviewed by Naomi Fayzulayev, FNP-C, MSN.

Last reviewed 2026-11-09. See our editorial policy and methodology.

Every term used across this site, defined in one place — from core concepts down to each of the 32 scored biomarkers. Each entry links to the full page with the complete explanation and, where relevant, the research behind it.

Core concepts

Age acceleration
The pattern where a person's biological age — most often measured by an epigenetic clock — runs ahead of their chronological age. Research on DNA-methylation-based clocks has repeatedly linked this pattern to higher mortality and disease risk, independent of conventional risk factors.
ApoB (Apolipoprotein B)
A direct count of atherogenic lipid particles in blood. Every particle capable of depositing cholesterol in an artery wall — LDL, VLDL, IDL and Lp(a) — carries exactly one ApoB molecule, which is why counting ApoB counts those particles directly rather than estimating them from cholesterol mass the way LDL cholesterol does.
Biological age
An estimate of how old your body is functioning, based on measurable biomarkers rather than birth date. Unlike chronological age, it can run younger or older than the calendar, and can move in either direction as your underlying state changes.
Biomarker
A specific, measurable value — a blood test result, a physical performance test, or a wearable reading — used as an input to one of the eight dials.
Chronological age
The number of years since birth, as recorded on any calendar. It only ever increases and cannot be changed by anything you do — the opposite of biological age, which this entire tool is built to estimate and track.
Dial
One of the eight body systems this tool scores independently — atherogenic, cognitive, hormonal, inflammatory, metabolic, organ, structural and vascular — each built from its own set of biomarkers and reported as its own age.
Discordance
When two related measurements of the same underlying biology disagree — for example, an identical LDL cholesterol result sitting on a meaningfully different ApoB particle count. Discordance matters because it is exactly the situation where the more mechanistic measurement (ApoB, in that example) tends to track outcomes more closely than the proxy.
Epigenetic clock
A method of estimating biological age from DNA methylation — chemical marks that accumulate on DNA in patterned ways over time — typically from a blood or saliva sample. Horvath, Hannum, PhenoAge, GrimAge and DunedinPACE are the most researched examples, each trained on different outcomes and capable of producing a different number from the same sample.
Healthspan
The number of years lived free of serious chronic disease, disability or significant functional decline, as distinct from lifespan, which simply counts years alive.
HOMA-IR
An index of insulin resistance calculated from fasting insulin and fasting glucose together — insulin (µIU/mL) multiplied by glucose (mg/dL), divided by 405. It is not a separate blood test; it is arithmetic performed on two values most lipid or metabolic panels already include.
HRV (heart rate variability)
The variation in time between consecutive heartbeats, reflecting mainly parasympathetic (recovery-side) autonomic activity. A healthy heart does not beat metronomically; it adjusts continuously to breathing, posture and demand, and a flatter pattern generally indicates a system under load from training, illness, alcohol, stress or poor sleep.
Insulin resistance
A state in which cells respond less effectively to insulin, requiring the pancreas to secrete more of it to keep blood glucose steady. It typically develops years before fasting glucose itself rises, which is why fasting insulin is tracked as an early signal rather than waiting for glucose or HbA1c to move.
Lifespan
The total number of years a person is alive, regardless of health status during those years. Contrasted with healthspan, which counts only the years spent without serious chronic disease or disability.
Longevity Score
The single weighted number produced by combining all eight dial ages. It tells you where you stand overall; the individual dials tell you what to do about it, which is why this tool reports both rather than the composite alone.
Longevity-optimised range
A reference range calibrated to where mortality and disease risk are lowest in the published research, rather than to where a population's results happen to cluster. These ranges are generally stricter than standard lab ranges, which is why this tool can flag a result your lab reported as normal.
PhenoAge
A biological-age estimate built from ordinary blood markers — including albumin, creatinine, glucose, CRP and white cell count — combined by a published formula. Unlike DNA-methylation clocks, it can be calculated from a standard blood panel.
Standard reference range
The range a lab reports as "normal," typically defined as the central 95% of results from a general reference population. It answers "is this result unusual for this population?" — not "is this result optimal for long-term health?" — which is why a result inside it can still carry meaningfully more risk than one nearer the low end of that range.
VO2 max
The maximum rate at which the body can take in, transport and use oxygen under full exertion. It is one of the strongest available predictors of all-cause mortality and functional independence, and the best single summary of how well the heart, lungs, circulation and muscle work together under load.
Waist-to-height ratio
Waist circumference divided by height, in the same units. It is a proxy for visceral and abdominal fat specifically — the metabolically active fat depot most strongly linked to insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease — in a way that BMI, which cannot distinguish fat from muscle or say where fat is stored, is not.

The 8 dials

Atherogenic age
Plaque deposition risk environment
Cognitive age
Compute, control, recovery & neural reserve
Hormonal age
Signal integrity across the endocrine system
Inflammatory age
Systemic noise floor & immune tone
Metabolic age
Fuel processing & insulin effort
Organ age
Kidney & liver reserve
Structural age
Chassis, engine & actuator capacity
Vascular age
Pressure & flow network integrity

Biomarkers A–Z

ALT
Alanine aminotransferase (also called SGPT, liver enzyme) — scored on the Organ dial.
ApoA1
Apolipoprotein A1 (also called apo A-I) — scored on the Atherogenic dial.
ApoB
Apolipoprotein B (also called apo B, apoB-100) — scored on the Atherogenic dial.
Blood Pressure
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (also called BP, systolic BP, diastolic BP) — scored on the Vascular dial.
Carotid IMT
Carotid intima-media thickness (also called CIMT, carotid IMT) — scored on the Vascular dial.
Daily Steps
Average daily step count (also called steps per day, daily step count, step goal) — scored on the Cognitive dial.
DHEA-S
Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (also called DHEA-S, DHEAS, adrenal androgen) — scored on the Hormonal dial.
eGFR
Estimated glomerular filtration rate (cystatin C) (also called kidney function, GFR, eGFR-cys) — scored on the Organ dial.
Estradiol
Estradiol (E2) (also called E2, oestradiol) — scored on the Hormonal dial.
Fasting Glucose
Fasting plasma glucose (also called FPG, fasting blood sugar) — scored on the Metabolic dial.
Fasting Insulin
Fasting serum insulin (also called fasting insulin level) — scored on the Metabolic dial.
Ferritin
Serum ferritin (also called iron stores) — scored on the Inflammatory dial.
Free Testosterone
Free (unbound) testosterone (also called free T) — scored on the Hormonal dial.
GGT
Gamma-glutamyl transferase (also called gamma-GT, GGTP) — scored on the Organ dial.
Grip Strength
Maximal handgrip strength (also called handgrip strength, grip dynamometry) — scored on the Structural dial.
HbA1c
Glycated haemoglobin (also called A1c, haemoglobin A1c) — scored on the Metabolic dial.
Homocysteine
Plasma total homocysteine (also called tHcy) — scored on the Inflammatory dial.
HRV
Heart rate variability (resting RMSSD) (also called heart rate variability, RMSSD) — scored on the Cognitive dial.
hs-CRP
High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (also called hsCRP, high-sensitivity CRP) — scored on the Inflammatory dial.
IGF-1
Insulin-like growth factor 1 (also called somatomedin C) — scored on the Metabolic dial.
Lp(a)
Lipoprotein(a) (also called lipoprotein little a, Lp little a) — scored on the Atherogenic dial.
Morning Cortisol
Morning (8am) serum cortisol (also called AM cortisol, 8am cortisol) — scored on the Hormonal dial.
Non-HDL Cholesterol
Non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (also called non-HDL-C) — scored on the Atherogenic dial.
Omega-3 Index
Red blood cell EPA + DHA as a percentage of total fatty acids (also called O3I, EPA+DHA index) — scored on the Cognitive dial.
Resting Heart Rate
Resting heart rate (also called RHR, resting pulse) — scored on the Vascular dial.
Sleep Duration
Average nightly sleep duration (also called sleep hours, sleep need) — scored on the Cognitive dial.
Testosterone
Total and free testosterone (also called total T, free T, serum testosterone) — scored on the Hormonal dial.
Triglycerides
Serum triglycerides (also called TG, trigs) — scored on the Atherogenic dial.
TSH
Thyroid-stimulating hormone (also called thyrotropin) — scored on the Hormonal dial.
Uric Acid
Serum uric acid (also called urate, serum urate) — scored on the Inflammatory dial.
Vitamin B12
Serum cobalamin (also called cobalamin, B-12) — scored on the Cognitive dial.
Vitamin D
25-hydroxyvitamin D (also called 25(OH)D, vitamin D3) — scored on the Cognitive dial.
VO₂ Max
Maximal oxygen uptake (also called cardiorespiratory fitness, aerobic capacity) — scored on the Structural dial.
WBC
White blood cell count (total leukocytes) (also called WBC, white count, leukocyte count) — scored on the Inflammatory dial.
Calculate your Longevity Score free →
Not medical advice. These are longevity-optimised reference ranges, which are deliberately stricter than standard clinical "normal" values. A value outside them does not mean you have a disease. Speak to a qualified healthcare professional before changing medication, supplements or training. Full disclaimer.
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What is biological age?

Chronological age counts birthdays. Biological age estimates how old your body appears to be functioning, based on measurable biomarkers. Two people born the same year can differ by a decade or more in vascular stiffness, insulin signalling or cardiorespiratory fitness. Biological age makes that gap explicit — and unlike your birthday, it can move in either direction.

How is the Longevity Score calculated?

Each biomarker you enter is scored against longevity-optimised reference ranges and grouped into one of eight dials. Every dial produces its own biological age, and those are combined using fixed weights into a single composite, then expressed as a Longevity Score from 0 to 100. The weighting reflects how strongly each system predicts healthspan: structural and vascular carry the most, hormonal the least.

Do I need all 53 biomarkers?

No. The short form contains a subset of scoring inputs plus context-only fields, and you can leave any of them blank. It is not a recommendation to obtain tests. Missing values are excluded from the calculation — never treated as zero or as 'normal'. A dial with no scored data is dropped entirely and the remaining weights renormalise.

What can I measure without a blood test?

Some inputs can be measured without bloodwork. Blood pressure needs a home cuff and waist-to-height needs a tape measure. Wearable estimates vary; the floor-based sitting-rising test carries a fall risk and should only be attempted if safe.

Is this an anti-aging calculator? Is it a healthspan calculator?

Both terms describe what this tool does, and which one fits depends on what you are asking. "Anti-aging" is the term most people search, and loosely means anything aimed at slowing or reversing age-related decline — this tool fits that description if you score your dials and act on what you find. "Healthspan calculator" is the more precise term: healthspan is the number of years lived without serious chronic disease or disability, and that cannot be measured directly, so this tool scores eight systems that each function as an early-warning proxy for it. Either way, the method is the same: real biomarkers, published thresholds, no vanity-metric framing.

Why don't you have a quick quiz that skips biomarkers entirely?

Several popular tools ask only about habits — exercise days, sleep hours, smoking, diet quality — and return a single precise-looking age. We looked at the research behind that approach and chose not to build it. Published studies do show real, individually-measured links between specific habits and epigenetic age acceleration, but those effect sizes come from different study populations, different DNA-methylation clocks and different measurement units. Adding them together into one number is not something the underlying research actually supports — it produces a precise-looking result built on an imprecise method. Our dials use direct physiological measurements instead: a real blood pressure reading, a real VO₂ max, a real ApoB value. Several dials score from home-measurable data alone with no quiz-guessing involved — see what you can measure without a blood test, above.

Why are your 'optimal' ranges stricter than my lab's normal range?

Standard reference ranges describe what is common in a general population, which now includes a great deal of metabolic dysfunction. They are tuned to flag disease, not to identify what is optimal for a long healthspan. A fasting insulin of 20 µIU/mL sits inside most labs' normal range and is strongly associated with insulin resistance. This tool uses longevity-optimised thresholds instead, so a flag here means room for optimisation — not a diagnosis.

Why not just upload my labs to ChatGPT?

For understanding a single result, do — a frontier chat model is genuinely good at that, often clearer than most medical sites, and it handles markers no fixed tool covers. The limitation is different from the one most people assume. A language model produces a plausible response rather than a computed one, so the same panel can score differently on different days. That is fine when exploring an idea and disqualifying when measuring change, because you cannot tell how much of a difference is you and how much is the method. Use both: a chat model to understand, a fixed instrument to track.

Is my health data private?

Biomarker values, assessment history and visit-preparation drafts are stored in your browser. The visit draft is separate from assessment exports and share links; copying or printing it can leave a copy outside the browser. There are no user accounts or third-party tracking. We keep anonymous usage totals on our own server, such as how many people reached a results screen on a given day; browsers sending Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control are not counted. Optional lab-report upload and AI coach features send data to Anthropic. Optional retest reminders send an email address, date and reminder label to our service and email provider. See our privacy policy for details.

Is this a medical diagnosis?

No. It is an educational and personal-tracking tool. The estimates are not clinically validated and must not replace evaluation by a qualified healthcare professional. If a result concerns you — particularly kidney markers, blood pressure or ApoB — take it to a doctor rather than acting on it alone.

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