It’s your birthday, how old are you?: Four ages to cogitate on your birthday.

Suppose your epicure friend passes away today, God forbid. In that case, your pain will not be influenced by how they led a luxurious life and are no longer able to live it, but by how their existence impacted you and others around them, and that now this impact is no more. We are all new to each day, especially the one that reminds you of your debut into the world. This reality could be why making the day as novel as possible is a natural go-to for many people.

Many people will always respond to the question ‘How old are you?’ with a definite number, which always denotes their chronological age, while oblivious that this question transcends what is overtly revealed or avowed. There are other equally, and based on one’s discretion, even more critical ages that should cross the mind whenever the question ‘How old are you?’ is posted. This ‘mind ink’ should provoke you to regard three more crucial ages alongside your chronological age the next time someone asks, ‘How old are you?’. When someone asks your age in the future, you will have three additional choices; you may even request the questioner to be more specific to their inquiry. 

Chronological Age

This is that age that conveys how long you have lasted on earth; it is often applied in psychometrics. It also hints at your biological age (a 40-year-old is deemed biologically older than a 10-year-old) and intellectual age, where a 50-year-old is esteemed intellectually older than a 30-year-old (though not always true), but not spiritual or ‘moral’ age because, at any age, any moral capacity is attainable provided one can discern right from wrong. Despite the ubiquitous unwavering attention toward this age by those who superficially envisage the crux of life, it frequently fails to accurately represent someone’s perfect age because it does not account for the nuances that unravel once the person considers more than one approach to determine age. 

Though it may not be necessary or even plausible to channel numerous mental energies into your chronological age based on some reasons addressed below, this age tops the list because, first, it is the easiest to ascertain since most people will always use it to answer the question ‘How old are you?’ and second, it gives a blurry intimation of the state of the biological and intellectual ages but not the spiritual or ‘moral’ age. When asked how old you are, an inconsiderable focus should be on your chronological age because other ages define the quality or substance of this age. This age only gives a foggy inkling of the state of the intellectual and biological ages. Only after considering other ages would chronological age rightfully fit its place and serve its purpose.  

The older the chronological age, the more fictile other ages become, until an older age where there’s little to nothing you can do about the other ages, except for the spiritual or ‘moral’ age, which is moldable until right before death. Think of a 90-year-old kind man or woman who can opt to relinquish this trait or develop and exercise more ‘moral’ values such as faithfulness, love, patience, honesty, etc., but can no longer do anything about their dwindling biological age (i.e., sagging skin) and deteriorating intellectual capacities (i.e., forgetfulness). Inveterate virtue or vice stands the test of time in so much that chronological age, with its biological and mental age counterparts, has no renovative influence on it.

When asked their age, people always respond chronologically. However, this situation is precarious when the broader scope of age is not examined, leading to the habitual presumption that the younger the chronological age, the younger the moral, mental, and biological ages (one may appear old biologically, i.e., facially, but young chronologically). This age may also allude to a somewhat iridescent and paradoxical phenomenon: an older chronological age could simultaneously mean joy and pain. However, one can maximize joy and minimize pain from specific practices in the other three approaches to age. Alas! By itself, there’s not much you can do about this age because it is the least malleable of all the ages. The pliability in the other ages can help astronomically ramp up the chances for a longer chronological age (longer life) through some salutiferous practices. 

Biological Age

This is the age of your somatic frame (your tegument, internal organs, physiological processes, etc.). The younger this age is, the better because of its spirited and agile characterization, and the older it is, the more physically limiting and, to a fair degree, mentally limiting life becomes. For these reasons, an older biological age is associated with senile countenance, physical feebleness, weakened biological processes, and a lack of vitality. Someone biologically old yet chronologically young may be mistaken to be chronologically older. This can be frustrating, mainly when people frequently make remarks that wrongly cluster you with those chronologically older despite being chronologically younger. 

Some people may also draw attention to this age during birthday celebrations since, for many, it usually collocates with chronological age when contemplating age. As the question ‘How old are you?’ is asked, this age should likewise come to mind and evoke more questions such as ‘Does my appearance and physical health or biological processes (i.e., metabolism) resemble my chronological age? Do I look older or younger than my chronological age? What should I do about my current state? How do I collate with my peers’ biological ages? (what am I doing or not doing that puts me ahead (healthful practices) or behind (detrimental practices)). When you ask yourself such questions, your birthday becomes more eventful.

Regardless of the implicit answers to these questions, your focus may already be on nutrition, exercise, sleep/rest, and many other things directly impacting your corporeal health and age. At this point, if you feel your biological age is older than your chronological age, you may need to adopt new salubrious practices that were overlooked earlier or add more to the little already practiced, seeing that you now apprehend the burden of the question ‘How old are you?’. These are the influences to seek from birthdays: the need to retrospect, introspect, revamp, and grow.

With time, biological age has its limits despite good practices. However, good practices will make these biological limits more elastic and delay aging, ultimately making you look younger than your actual chronological age (something many salivate about). In contrast, harmful practices will make biological limits more rigid, shortening the time it takes to reach them and making you appear older than your actual chronological age.

While reflecting on how old you are, ponder upon and plan to embrace invigorating practices done in moderation to promote younger and healthier biological age, such as: 

• Regular cardiac exercises that engage the whole body. 

• Eating choicest and well-prepared palatable foods that are heavily plant-based. Foods subjected to high heat, such as deep-fried foods, produce free radicals, which cause inflammation and premature aging. Plenty of clean drinking water is a no-brainer. 

• Early to bed (2 to 2.5 hours before midnight) and early to rise (5 to 5.5 hours after midnight). 

• Stress-free mind (frequently do what interests you while using it to succor others).

• Frequent exposure to safe and serene natural environments (rivers, waterfalls, mountains, forests, etc.) characterized by chirping birds, moving waters, cool breeze, sunlight, etc.

Conversely, in the train of thoughts on your age, resolve to eschew noxious and benumbing influences that lead to a degenerated and older biological age, such as: 

• Exposure to environmental hazards like carbon monoxide.

• Drugs (alcohol, tobacco, *caffeine (CNS stimulant), and marijuana being the major culprits). 

• Unhealthy eating (foods rich in saturated fat, refined or processed sugar, salt, free radicals, and those lacking vital macro and micronutrients). Fast foods and highly processed foods are the most prominent perpetrators.

• Frequently using conventional medication. 

• Inadequate sleep/rest.

• Prolonged stay in confined spaces with limited ambulation.

• Little to no or superfluous exercise.

• Incessant agitations that only yield to transitory serenity. 

These are a few of the many practices you might need to consider regarding your biological age. However, the list is comprehensive enough to offer a firm footing in expedient and insalubrious practices. 

Biological age significantly influences the human family because its increment threatens the rest of the ages; when its increment or aging stops (caused by organ failure due to old age), increments of other ages equally stop. If someone’s heart fails due to old age at 100 years and they die, they can no longer grow their chronological, intellectual, or moral age. This is why many people, whether consciously or unconsciously, pay keen attention to their biological age; there is always an impending danger to all other ages when this age is handled slapdashedly. 

Those with a young biological age (a solid and healthy robust system of smoothly functioning interconnected biological processes) will not esteem old chronological age as a formidable opponent. Think of a 50-year-old man gladly and efficiently participating in a pentathlon with the last activity (cross-country run) set at 10 miles or even more. Even if the penultimate sport is tasking and draining, with a potent physiological synergy, the 50-year-old will secure an illustrious spot in the cross-country run if the coordination of his biological processes is intact and unmatched by other participants. Dean Karnazes, who is currently 62 years old, is an excellent illustration of what a seamless coordination of biological processes can achieve after running 350 miles (560 km) non-stop through Northern California at 43 years in 2005, while most 20-year-olds cannot manage a distance equivalent to their age in kilometres. It is worth noting that Karnazes’ family closely followed him in an RV. 

Intellectual/Mental Age

Your mental or intellectual age is determined mainly by your brain’s power in penetrating ideas, handling challenges, deducing solutions, decision-making, computation, analyses, and composure, just to mention a few. This field appeals more to psychology, mental health, intelligence quotient (IQ) measured by IQ tests, and emotional intelligence (EQ). The older your mental age, the more you depict cognizance, maturity, and astuteness, and vice versa. Most people enjoy the company of highly intellectual people, while pillocks may find these people intimidating, even when the former group has made no deliberate efforts to intimidate. 

When asked your age, you should instantaneously reflect on your intellectual age as well. Questions like: How effective is my brain? Do I forget things easily? Do I grapple with elementary concepts? How do my peers’ collate? Do I need to catch up? Etc. With such questions, birthdays will be more desirable for the right reasons, creating more profitable people.

Many people who are inattentive to life’s experiences and other learning opportunities have accumulated significant chronological ages but are no match to the intellectual ages of others who, though chronologically young in comparison, yet diligent, are more cognizant, mature, and astute. The only way you benefit from the purported experience acquired from an older chronological age is to perceive the meaning of the events forming such experiences and learn from them, since without this, you become none the wiser when a similar event occurs, despite having experienced it earlier. Assiduity, which leads to a natural proneness to wrest every learning opportunity, reckons more experience, which translates to an older intellectual age. Think of someone who is 50 years old but cannot secure employment in a particular field because they are super grumpy and seems not to grasp the necessary concepts for that field, while a good-humored and skilled 30-year-old young man’s only challenge will be choosing which job offer to accept. 

All the invigorating practices mentioned in the biological age section are necessary here, with an addendum of knowledge consumption, deliberate and critical thinking (including brain training exercises), and a snippet on brain nutrition (especially the frontal lobe and temporal lobe, specifically the limbic system or paleomammalian cortex that deals with memory, learning, and emotion). Without idolizing knowledge or metamorphosizing into an infomaniac (someone with excessive enthusiasm for acquiring knowledge), be diligent and dutiful, seeking to excel in anything you touch as you avoid indolence and frivolous contentment like a plague. Study scripture and resourceful books, and generally consume sound knowledge. Once you have sharpened the edges of your wit and developed a disposition to intellectual pursuits, find the need to empty the reservoirs of your knowledge (though impossible, as sharing adds your knowledge, but the idea is to disseminate every beneficial knowledge to others).

The limbic system features the amygdala (responsible for basic emotions such as fear) and the hippocampus (superintends memory and learning), while the frontal lobe (performs higher executive functions such as decision-making and computation). For brevity’s sake, a poor diet hampers all these functions, while a richer one, particularly in safe raw foods (people with low immune systems should be warier of raw foods) such as certain vegetables, seeds, fruits (without being exclusively carpophagous or fruitarian), and nuts high in omega 3 and 6 fatty acids and the four metals (sodium, zinc, copper, and magnesium) improves functionality between neurons and neuron axons dedicated for the mentioned functions. A metal like magnesium harmonizes nerve signal transmissions in the brain. Deficiency in such essential nutrition for the brain may cause impaired responses to threatening situations (amygdala affected) and low-level thinking, while the lack of study and mental stimulation numbs the hippocampus and frontal lobes. 

Spiritual or ‘Moral’ Age

This age speaks to one’s ability to discern right from wrong and do that which is right. Its deliberations should have come first because it encompasses all else, but it is still an excellent way to culminate and wrap up all the other ages around it. Moral development starts at a tender age: a two-year-old may know right and wrong based on the instilled knowledge from parents and the environment but lacks the substantial ability to master or manipulate motives. Since transgression is not so much about what is done but about the motive behind the action, children at that age (two years) or any other age without the capacity to master motives cannot be entirely liable for their actions.

There are many theories of ‘moral’ development, such as Piaget’s and Kohiberg’s, so a spiritual approach would be more accurate. An older spiritual age would mean someone who understands and is characterized by integrity, honesty, kindness, faithfulness, selflessness, patience, prayer, faith, humility: the list is endless, but above all, Love (purifies the motive). 

When asked about your age, this age must form the foundation of your thoughts before responding. These questions will become more imperative: How do I treat others? Why do I treat others the way I do? (motives) Do I frequently lose spiritual or ‘moral’ battles? How strong am I against sensual desires? Am I always ready to err, provided I win satisfaction? How often do I pray and study scripture? Asking these questions will make birthdays more meaningful than asking questions inspired by birthday celebration traditions, such as: Will my friends pour water on me, and should I encourage or discourage them? What is the best vestment for my birthday celebration? How many people will attend? What peculiar or special thing should I prepare to eat today? How many people will wish me a happy birthday? Will I get gifts? Is the money I have enough to throw a party? Where is the best venue? Etc. If the first group of questions remains relevant daily, how much more on birthdays? Birthdays should reflect on questions similar to those in the first set and more on the list each year. 

There isn’t a genuinely true satisfaction that comes with using mental and biological vitality for the wrong cause. The rest of the ages are only as good as when this age compliments them. Swindling other people because of one’s ability to derive artful contrivances (intellectual power) while managing to maintain a deluding and innocent poise, especially one that takes advantage of outward appearance (biological age), discomfits any nobility and meaning acquired from possessing an efficient mind and healthy body. This discernment shows more value to attaining a nobler spiritual or ‘moral’ age than any other attainment. An intellectually old and biologically young man is no man if he cannot master his selfish and sensual desires. The strongest and most renowned warriors are those who have won and those who win the battle of self. 

Every healthy or unhealthy practice mentioned affects the spiritual or ‘moral’ state. For instance, nutrition, exercise, rest, etc., impact the sensitivity and latency or communication speeds between the myriad neurons in the frontal lobe, the part responsible for judgment, abstract thought, and decision-making, qualities that guide our behavior and speech. Pernicious foods mean reduced brain power and resilience to withstand adversity and make wise and morally upright judgments, and vice versa.

In addition to understanding what is required of a cultured intellectual being from studying, erudition hones our senses of perception and even receptiveness to conscience. With more knowledge comes more responsibility in the form of awareness of what should and should not be done. Studying scripture and deliberate contemplation on the motive behind every thought, word, and action is the prerequisite to spiritual and ‘moral’ growth. Once you divine that your motive is selfish, desisting from it and correcting it goes a long way. The right thoughts, words, and actions will become inveterate with constant repetition of ingenuous motives. 

Conclusion

What is interesting about all these ages is that each influences the other in its unique capacity (another entirely different and captivating topic). As is apparent, birthdays should focus not only on celebration but on introspection and retrospection to ensure intellectually, morally, and biologically superior qualities.

Henceforth, birthdays pique people’s interest to ask consequential questions about all there is to age rather than an overweening focus on chronological age that yields unsubstantial influences such as the trivial and threadbare happy birthday ditties whose singers mostly anticipate the opportunity to ululate the person’s chronological age raucously. If, after these carnal celebrations, the individual resumes practices that injure their biological, moral, and intellectual states, then the birthday celebration has fallen short of its purpose.

I hope this piece elicits your cogitation toward acquiescing in the truth without introducing abstruse concepts.

After reading this, I believe the scope of the answer you plan to give to the question ‘How old are you?’ the next time will go beyond the customary and instinctive (chronological age) response.