While we can’t stop time, targeted therapies and lifestyle strategies may help slow biological aging.
As people age, it’s only natural that we search for ways to turn back the clock and improve our quality of life as we get older. What we are actually referring to are our epigenetic clocks and aging, meaning your chronological age, or birth age, which can differ from your biological age, or how you age or appear physically.
Epigenetic Clocks and Biological Age
Mickey Barber, MD, physician/owner of Better Life Carolinas, who has spent 21 years in the field of age management medicine, explained that epigenetic clocks really have to do with lifestyle, nutrition and environmental factors that can alter certain areas of our DNA. She cited the example of people who know they have a genetic predisposition for heart disease. You can eat a lot of fiber, control your cholesterol and engage in a regular exercise routine to help lower your risk. Conversely, if you’re genetically coded for type 2 diabetes, it follows that if you eat sweets, are obese and lead a sedentary lifestyle, you’re increasing your risk of developing that condition.
“You have a genetic predisposition, but it’s not a genetic certainty,” stated Dr. Barber. All these changes modify what is known as the methylation pattern of DNA, she said. Methylation and other processes regulate gene expression and affect aspects like aging and disease risk.
Anti-Aging Treatments in Charleston
There is no shortage of anti-aging strategies, tips, treatments and therapies available, but which ones are backed by medical science and offer the best results of reversing biological age?
Better Life Carolinas uses a treatment called hyperbaric oxygen therapy, where patients are placed in a pressurized chamber that delivers pure oxygen pressurized above atmospheric oxygen anywhere from 1.5 to 3 atmospheres higher than normal barometric pressure. “We know that pressure forces more oxygen into the tissues,” Dr. Barber said, “and it can be used to repair tissue damage, promote healing in traumatic brain injuries, speed up wound healing and improve collagen production to help repair aging or injured skin. Hyperbaric therapy has been shown to increase innate stem cell production and growth factors to help with repair, regeneration of tissues and treating inflammation.”
Another treatment option is therapeutic plasma exchange, which has been used for years to detoxify individuals who are victims of poisoning or have high inflammatory levels in the blood. TPE can be utilized to remove and discard toxins or disease-causing agents in our plasma and replace them with a plasma substitute.
Lifestyle Strategies for Healthy Aging
Of course, lifestyle plays a major role. Rex Morgan, MD, an internist and geriatrician with Novant Health East Cooper Medical Center with 20 years of experience, said he has treated patients in their 60s or 70s who appear older than their chronological age because they don’t take care of themselves. On the contrary, he has seen patients in their 90s who do take good care of themselves who look healthier and younger than their actual age.
“It’s how you take care of your body,” explained Dr. Morgan. He qualified that while there are certain things you can’t control – genetics, for example – you can manage lifestyle behaviors such as exercise, diet, drinking and smoking.
Cognitive Health and the U.S. POINTER Study
Lifestyle behaviors also impact mental health. U.S. POINTER published a groundbreaking Alzheimer’s study in 2025 showing that cognitive decline can be delayed and even meaningfully improved with targeted interventions such as exercise, healthy nutrition and cognitive engagement. A key takeaway from the study results is that healthy behavior can significantly impact brain health.
“If you sat yourself in my doctor’s office, I would tell you: ‘Exercise is the best thing you can do for your mind,’” said Dr. Morgan.
This doesn’t mean you have to overexert yourself or run a marathon. Just 40 minutes of activity a day like a brisk walk can go a long way toward treating your brain with good blood flow and improving cognitive function. “40 minutes for blood flow is essential,” said Dr. Morgan.
Dr. Barber echoed that sentiment. “Some kind of movement is huge,” she asserted.
Karen Nichols, RN, NHA, CRCFA, CMC, of Aging Life Care Charleston, who has 29 years of experience as a nurse and four years in senior care management, has spent her entire career working with seniors. Whether as a geriatric nurse, a nursing home administrator, assisted living administrator, care consultant or trainer, she has specialized in geriatrics and senior care.
While she hadn’t yet read the POINTER study, her background uniquely qualifies her to comment on the cognitive benefits of healthy aging.
“I think that we always advise people that living a healthy lifestyle – that anything that’s good for your heart is going to be good for your brain, because your brain needs your heart to supply oxygen and nutrients and things like that that your body needs,” said Nichols.
Another major finding of the POINTER study is how critical it is to keep your mind stimulated.
“It’s so important to keep your mind active,” asserted Dr. Morgan. This means avoiding passive activities, most notably watching TV, and engaging in pursuits such as reading, discussions with family or friends and listening to music, all of which benefit your mind. “That’s exercising your brain,” said Dr. Morgan.
Sleep, Stress, and Social Connection
Getting a good night’s sleep is a lifestyle tip that should top anyone’s list, according to Dr. Barber. It sounds simple, but most patients they see are not getting enough sleep. This is followed closely by reducing the impact of stress, which causes inflammation.
One anti-aging lifestyle strategy anyone can adopt is simply staying plugged into your social network. It seems that people who keep involved in their community, whether church, civic groups, sports or other group activities, tend to age better and feel better both mentally and physically, said Dr. Morgan. “There is a lot to be said about mood and longevity. That’s exercising the mind, too, and I think that’s an important way to stay young.”
Nichols agreed that a socially active lifestyle is vital. “People participating in staying active in that way in terms of being socially engaged and not sort of just sitting at home and being lonely – and engagement being meaningful engagement – is super important and part of the process. Those are things I think often don’t get talked about as much as exercise and eating a healthy diet, and yet they are probably most important for cognitive health and well-being.”
Limiting your alcohol intake is another critical piece in keeping your brain young; drinking daily can lead to an increased risk of cognitive decline. “Limiting alcohol in the middle of your life does reap benefits later in life,” stressed Dr. Morgan.
Vitamin D3 supplementation and biological age
So what anti-aging research and studies published recently could herald potential with respect to aging and longevity? A July 2025 article published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that daily vitamin D3 supplementation may play a role in slowing biological aging at the cellular level. Dr. Morgan said it’s hard to tell how much promise daily D3 supplementation might hold in curbing aging, though it does provide great benefits for bones. While taking between 2,000 to 5,000 units of D3 per day is OK,” he added, “I don’t think megadoses are helpful.”
Dr. Barber noted that low vitamin D is associated with aging, so you could conjecture that it could help slow the aging process, and it does help with bone density and mood boosting. While she thinks the final verdict on its effectiveness as an anti-aging treatment is still out, she believes that this will be shown to be accurate in the future.
Emerging Therapies: Peptides and Platelet-Rich Plasma
One anti-aging treatment that excites her is peptide therapy. Peptides are small chains of amino acids that have anti-inflammatory and other important properties, she explained. A peptide injection can be administered directly into an inflammatory region. “It’s pretty amazing how much it helps and how quickly it helps,” mused Dr. Barber. The best part: There are few if any side effects.
There also is platelet-rich plasma therapy, which uses your blood’s own platelets and growth factors for everything from hair restoration to texture and collagen of the skin and helps with healing and regeneration of tissue. It can often be combined with exosome therapy or peptides. “That whole area is pretty exciting, and it’s getting better,” said Dr. Barber.
Genomics and Knowing Your Risk
While there are countless anti-aging treatments, therapies and tips out there, ultimately, she emphasized the significance of genomics and knowing your genes and risk of certain diseases: “If we can find things early on so that we know what we should be doing, that changes the game completely.”
Additional sources:
- hms.harvard.edu/news/epigenetic-clock
- alz.org/us-pointer/study-results
- sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0002916525002552
- pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22781841/
By Colin McCandless
