These Habits Age Your Heart Faster Than The Rest Of Your Body
- A new study shows that in some people, their hearts are aging faster than the rest of their bodies.
- The results showed that unchecked underlying health conditions made people’s hearts age years faster.
- Here’s what doctors want you to know about heart health and mitigating your risk.
We all love to chow down on a fast food burger once in a while and tend to skip a workout for happy hour here and there. You’re only human, and it’s easy to assume that your body will generally bounce back from whatever you throw at it, especially if you generally live a healthy lifestyle.
Now, new research suggests that consistently leaning into unhealthy habits could be especially tough on your heart—and it may even cause this vital organ to age faster than the rest of your body.
Of course, the findings aren’t suggesting that you have to be absolutely perfect in reaching your health goals, but they definitely shed some light on how our lifestyle choices could impact our heart health. Here’s everything to know, with insights from doctors.
Meet the expert: Cheng-Han Chen, MD, interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA
What did the study find?
The study, which was published in European Heart Journal Open, analyzed MRI scans from 557 people from hospitals in the UK, Spain, and Singapore. Of those, 191 people were considered healthy and 366 had underlying health conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, or obesity.
The researchers calculated the age of the participants’ heart based on certain elements that they saw in the MRI scan. They found that in people without underlying health conditions, their heart age matched up with their chronological age (i.e. how old they really were). But in people who had unchecked underlying health conditions, their heart age was higher than their chronological age—sometimes by several years.
How is your heart age calculated?
The exact method the researchers used is a little complicated and involved the use of MRI technology (so unfortunately, you can’t whip up a number at home on your own). But from a technical perspective, their calculation relies on measuring the size and strength of the heart’s chambers to figure out the organ’s “functional” age.
Why does this matter?
That question is still being explored, says Cheng-Han Chen, MD, interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA. He calls the findings “a good first step” toward seeing whether images of the heart can help provide doctors with information that can be helpful in seeing how someone’s heart health is progressing over time.
“There is currently no agreed-upon definition of a ‘heart age,’” he says, pointing out that other factors like blood pressure, height and weight, and different lab values from blood tests may be helpful for determining this.
Still, Dr. Chen says that this is a fairly simple calculation that can help doctors and their patients get on the same page about how their heart is doing. “It can potentially motivate patients to improve their lifestyles,” he says.
What can I do to slow premature heart aging?
Dr. Chen recommends doing what you can to follow the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8. “That’s the best way to keep your heart healthy,” he says. Those steps include:
- Eat a diet that includes whole foods, lots of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, nuts, and seeds.
- Try to get 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise, or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity a week.
- Don’t use tobacco, including cigarettes and e-cigarettes.
- Try to get seven to nine hours of sleep a night.
- Do your best to maintain a “healthy weight” with an optimal BMI of 25.
- Control your cholesterol by limiting sugary foods and drinks, red or processed meats, salty food, refined carbohydrates, and highly-processed foods.
- Manage your blood sugar.
- Stay on top of your blood pressure.
Of course, if you’re worried about your heart’s age or the potential impact of some unhealthy choices you’ve made in the past, talk to a healthcare professional. They should be able to give you an assessment and help suggest next steps from there.
Korin Miller is a freelance writer specializing in general wellness, sexual health and relationships, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Self, Glamour, and more. She has a master’s degree from American University, lives by the beach, and hopes to own a teacup pig and taco truck one day.
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