How Emotional Health Impacts Your Biological Age
Bilhen Sali — Head of Communications @ Glycanage, Longevity Enthusiast
Bilhen Sali is Head of Communications at GlycanAge, a biotech company specializing in biological age testing. At the HOLOLIFE Summit 2025, she will discuss how our biological age reflects our inner state and how self-awareness can be transformative. Passionate about mental health, Bilhen combines scientific curiosity with storytelling to reveal how stress and lifestyle influence aging. She believes in using data-driven insights for informed health choices, helping individuals understand their health on a deeper level.
Chronic stress and unresolved emotional pain accelerate biological aging through systemic inflammation, reflected by glycans—biological markers that indicate the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory states in the body. GlycanAge testing revealed discrepancies between chronological and biological age, highlighting the impact of mental fitness and trauma on health beyond diet and exercise. Emotional stress spikes glycan age temporarily, demonstrating that mental well-being critically influences chronic disease risk, premature aging, and mortality. Mindfulness, support, and therapy showed efficacy in restoring balance and reducing inflammation.
"Why do we treat ourselves worse than we treat our friends? Because we think we're stuck with ourselves no matter what. But if you treat your body like a bad friend, it will pull away—put up shields and just won’t want to be with you anymore."
Summary
- The speaker neglected self-care, leading to severe panic attacks and anxiety, showing how we often treat ourselves worse than friends. - GlycanAge testing revealed a biological age of 55 at chronological 24 due to chronic inflammation linked to stress and mental health. - Glycans are biomarkers that measure inflammation and reflect genetics, environment, and lifestyle, changing within months and revealing overall health. - Emotional stress and trauma significantly raise glycan age and chronic inflammation, impacting longevity despite physical health efforts. - Key recovery methods included seeking help, talking openly, writing, and daily meditation to improve mental and physical well-being.
Article
The hidden toll of stress: How emotional health accelerates biological aging
New research reveals mental well-being may be the missing link in longevity science
At the cutting-edge HOLOLIFE Summit in Tallinn, Estonia, Bilhen Sali delivered a presentation that challenged conventional wisdom about aging and health, revealing how emotional well-being plays a critical but often overlooked role in determining our biological age.
When biological age outpaces chronological age
"I was biologically fifty-five while being chronologically twenty-four," Sali told a captivated audience at the HOLOLIFE Summit 2025 on Saturday. As Head of Communications at biotech company GlycanAge, Sali shared her personal journey of discovering how chronic stress and emotional turmoil had dramatically accelerated her body's aging process.
Despite following what she believed was an optimal health regimen with "perfect diet" and supplements, her biological age testing revealed a shocking discrepancy. "I was trying to be perfect on the outside. I mean, how come my body wasn't grateful about what I was doing? And it was even aging at an accelerated level," she explained.
The science of glycans and inflammation
The presentation detailed how GlycanAge testing measures chronic inflammation through glycans – biological markers that indicate the balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory states in the body. These glycans, present on nearly every cell, facilitate cellular communication and reflect overall health status.
"Glycans are not only good; they can be bad," Sali explained. "The good ones are anti-inflammatory; bad ones are pro-inflammatory. And the ratio between those actually shows us how our entire body is doing—the overall inflammatory state."
Unlike genetic testing, glycan profiles can change within months, offering a dynamic picture of health that responds to lifestyle modifications, including mental health improvements.
The global emotional health crisis
Sali contextualized her experience within a broader pattern observed among GlycanAge users. She presented several case studies, including a biohacker whose glycan age spiked during a divorce, another individual who aged eight years after losing three family members, and even the company's CEO, whose results worsened following emotional heartbreak.
These anecdotes are supported by sobering global statistics. According to data presented at the summit, 62% of people across 31 countries cite stress as the main negative impact on their daily lives, while 45% identify mental health issues as their nation's primary health concern—surpassing cancer (38%).
"We live in such a modern life... Every tool that we could have, we have it. And still, we haven't been as miserable as we're today," Sali observed.
The mind-body connection
What makes this research particularly significant is how it quantifies the biological impact of emotional distress. Traditional health metrics might miss these effects entirely, as they often focus on physical biomarkers without considering their relationship to mental states.
"Emotional health does impact our overall health," Sali emphasized. "There are countless studies, more and more coming, proving how this intense stress and emotional pain is a main driver for many chronic diseases—and so, premature deaths."
The presentation highlighted how emotional well-being isn't merely a subjective experience but manifests in measurable biological changes that can accelerate aging and increase disease vulnerability.
Paths to recovery
When asked about interventions that helped improve her biological age, Sali identified three key practices: seeking help, expressive writing, and daily meditation.
"I was really afraid to cry for help," she admitted. "Writing helped me a lot as well... And third thing is meditation. I started meditating every day, and I did it for months and months."
These approaches align with emerging research on stress management techniques that can reduce inflammatory markers and potentially reverse accelerated aging.
The future of holistic health assessment
As the HOLOLIFE Summit continues through Sunday in Tallinn, Sali's presentation represents a growing intersection between emotional and physical health sciences. By providing objective measurements of how mental states impact biological processes, technologies like glycan testing may help bridge the gap between psychological well-being and medical outcomes.
The implications extend beyond individual health to public policy, suggesting that mental health support should be considered fundamental to disease prevention and longevity strategies.
"We have this very moment and the choice what to do with it," Sali concluded. "To observe from aside or join and be co-creators of our own life. The good, the bad, and that in between."
Part of HOLOLIFE Summit 2025 Tallinn