According to Dr. David Sinclair, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, the rate at which an individual's fingernails grow could offer insights into how long they might live and details about their biological aging process.
In his podcast Lifespan, Sinclair referenced a 1979 study where researchers attached tiny measuring tapes to the fingernails of 271 individuals and monitored their growth over several years.
The study found that the rate of fingernail growth declines by approximately 0.5 percent per year starting at the age of 30. This suggests that nail growth rate serves as a biological aging indicator—the faster the nails grow, the better the individual's biological age status.
"The linear nail growth rate is a simple, inexpensive, noninvasive technique for the measurement of ageing," study authors wrote.
"The rate of linear nail growth decreases 50 per cent over the life spans of humans".
Beyond aging, changes in nail color, texture, or growth rate can signal underlying health conditions. Slower nail growth or discoloration as a person ages indicate nutritional deficiencies, circulation issues, or metabolic disorders. Meanwhile, vertical ridges on fingernails are a common sign of aging, but they can also be linked to nutrient deficiencies or autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
Clubbing, where nails become thicker and curved downward, might suggest severe conditions, such as lung disease, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease, or liver problems.
While fingernails alone are not the final diagnostic tools, changes in their growth rate, texture, or color could be an early sign to seek medical advice.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.