Behavioral Complexity Could Offer New Insights Into Aging and Frailty

BUFFALO, NY — October 8, 2026 — A new #commentary was #published in Volume 18 of Aging on September 12, 2026, titled “Complexity, variability, and the behavioral layer of gerophysics: a commentary on Unfried et al. (2026).”

The commentary proposes expanding the emerging field of gerophysics to include behavioral complexity, offering a way to understand how aging affects the ability to adapt to everyday challenges. The authors argue that measuring changes in movement, physiological rhythms and other behavioral patterns could complement molecular and biological markers of aging, potentially helping researchers identify declining resilience and the transition toward frailty.

The commentary was authored by Jean-Jacques Temprado and Rita Sleimen-Malkoun, both affiliated with Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, and the Institute of Movement Sciences (ISM), Marseille, France. Temprado is also the corresponding author.

Gerophysics is an emerging interdisciplinary field that applies concepts from physics, mathematics and complex systems science to the study of aging. It draws on dynamical systems, entropy, network theory and stochastic processes to understand how biological systems change over time. A recent report from the Global Conference on Gerophysics, discussed by Unfried and colleagues, outlined a framework connecting aging processes across biological scales, from individual cells to the whole organism.

Temprado and Sleimen-Malkoun suggest that this framework could be strengthened by explicitly incorporating behavioral dynamics, particularly how people interact with and adapt to their environments. While molecular and physiological measurements reveal important aspects of aging, behavioral patterns may provide additional information about how effectively the body responds to changing demands in everyday life.

The authors build on earlier research suggesting that healthy physiological and behavioral systems exhibit complex fluctuations across multiple time scales. These patterns are neither entirely random nor perfectly regular. Instead, their variability reflects the flexibility needed to respond to different situations. With aging, this complexity may decline, producing patterns that become either more predictable or more random, potentially indicating a reduced capacity for adaptation.

Full press release - https://www.aging-us.com/news-room/behavioral-complexity-could-offer-new-insights-into-aging-and-frailty

DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206421