How old is your heart?

The true age of your heart – the biological age, not the birth date age – means a lot when it comes to living a vibrant, energetic youthful life for as long as you can.   Last week I wrote about blood pressure as a biomarker of age.  The week before, I wrote about resting heart rate.  Both of these markers are related to the strength, health and resilience of your heart.

 What ages the heart?  I bet you guess. 

 Smoking.  Obesity – especially extra padding around the middle.  A heart-unhealthy diet (junk, fried anything, meat and more meat).Inactivity.High blood pressure.  Low “good” cholesterol.Unmanaged stress.

The World Health Federation estimates that at least 80 percent of premature deaths (the ultimate ager, right?) from heart disease and stroke could be avoided if the  main risk factors – smoking,, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity – were controlled.  Yes, 80 percent.  And, of course, that same trifecta of badness is implicated in many other diseases of “aging” and chronic conditions that make life far less pleasant than it could or should be. 

Suppose your parents had/ have heart problems or heart disease.  Does that doom you to a rapidly aging heart, a heart that is biologically older than your chronological age?  No.  There is strong and compelling evidence that people with a family history of heart problems can still have a lower “heart age” if they practice a healthy lifestyle. 

This is good news for me.  My father had (and died from) coronary artery disease.  He never had a heart attack.  And he didn’t die young. (He was in his 80s – unlike his father who died of a heart attack at 50.)  But the last few years of his life were not good.  He was weak, increasingly debilitated and then bedridden.  His lifespan exceeded his healthspan.  That’s not what I want for my future.

So I am doing everything I can to keep my heart (and the rest of me) youthful.  And, really, this is not “work.”  It is committing to – and deeply, deeply enjoying – an active, healthy lifestyle. 

Want to take a test to see how old your heart is?  Sure you do.  Here it is.

When I took the test, I was informed that most women my age have hearts that are 6 years older than their chronological age.  My heart?  It was 17 years younger.