What does decades of living in a capital city like London do to the body? Nobody can answer that in full, but scientists have found one way to measure part of it.
A person’s biological age can differ from their chronological age (the age that their birthday tells them) with researchers using biological markers to estimate how quickly the body is ageing.
Researchers can estimate biological age using epigenetic clocks, which analyse patterns of chemical modifications to DNA.
Some of these measures have been associated with an increased risk of age-related disease and mortality.
Sleep and traffic pollution, both familiar to Londoners, are two factors quite important to city living.
A 2025 analysis of more than 440,000 people in the UK Biobank linked insufficient sleep to faster biological ageing, with the lowest rates of accelerated ageing at around seven hours a night.
Research published in 2026 associated long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution with faster epigenetic ageing, measured through changes in DNA methylation patterns, particularly among current and former smokers.
These findings are associations, not proof of cause, and researchers are now looking at the biology underneath.
Some of that work focuses on peptides, short chains of amino acids many of which act as biological signals. Specialist suppliers such as https://bioniqlab.com/ offer research-only peptides and small molecules in formats including laboratory peptide pens and capsules.
One example is a compound called Epitalon, a synthetic peptide made of just four amino acids.
Epitalon was developed as a synthetic analogue of epithalamin, a peptide extract obtained from the pineal glands of cattle.
The pineal gland is a small structure in the brain that helps set the body clock, and much of the research on Epitalon comes from the Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology in St Petersburg, led by Vladimir Khavinson.
In laboratory studies of human cells, researchers reported that epitalon raised the activity of telomerase, an enzyme that rebuilds telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that shorten as cells divide, and that treated cells kept dividing for longer than untreated ones.
Longer telomeres are generally correlated with longer lifespans and better cellular health.
A 2003 study of 54 mice per group found that Epitalon did not change average lifespan. However, maximum lifespan increased by 12.3%, while lifespan among the longest-lived 10% increased by 13.3%. Researchers also reported a slower age-related loss of reproductive cycles.
Cellular wear is not the same thing as the strain of a rush-hour commute, but it shows why researchers are interested in how the body copes with the passing of time.
Much of the original Epitalon research comes from a small number of closely associated researchers.
Human studies involving the related pineal extract epithalamin have also been reported, but findings from that preparation cannot automatically be applied to synthetic Epitalon. Independent human clinical evidence for Epitalon remains limited.
Research often progresses from laboratory and animal studies to human clinical trials, including larger randomised studies that evaluate effectiveness and safety.
Each stage provides different evidence, with long-term safety sometimes requiring further investigation.
Despite decades of investigation, the evidence for Epitalon remains predominantly preclinical, with limited independent human clinical research.
Nobody can yet say what decades of city life do to the body in full. As the clocks improve and the studies grow, that question should become easier to answer, and compounds like Epitalon will be judged on that evidence.
