Dr Oz: How Old Is Your Heart?
After talking with Queen Latifah about her mother’s congestive heart failure, Dr Oz wanted to continue his discussion about resilience of the heart. He took his entire show outside of the studio to the Dr Oz Real Age Heart Clinic, explaining that he wanted to help people figure out just how old their hearts thought they were, and whether it was younger or older than their chronological age.
Dr Oz: The Real Age Of Your Heart
Dr Oz discussed how you can tell the real age of your heart and what specific factors can age you more than others. (80497449@N04 / Flickr)
You heart’s age is determined by several different factors, including your chronological age, your BMI, your blood pressure, whether or not you smoke, and how much you sit during the week. Dr Oz was joined by nurse Kristen O’Dell who was leading the clinic. The results were in and Kristen said she was surprised by the results. Dr Oz reported that half of us have a heart age that is five years older than our chronological age.
Three women lined up wih Dr Oz to find out the real age of their heart. Kristen shared that perhaps some of the women’s heart rates were actually elevated because he was around, but either way, this was a great way to tell if you could be at risk. The good news is that the results can be reversed, so there’s no need to panic just yet.
Dr Oz: How Sitting Ages You
Dr Oz first talked to Kymberly, who is 46-years-old and had a blood pressure of 120/75, but she spends most of her day sitting. The real age of Kymberly’s heart was 48, which is primarily because of the amount of sitting she does. If you sit for 75% of the day, it can age your heart by 1-2 years. The good news is that to prevent that, just get up and walk around as much as you can! For ten minutes of every hour, stand!
Dr Oz: Aging Heart By Smoking
Next, Regina is 45-years-old with blood pressure of 134/85. Dr Oz then called out Regina for smoking, saying he could actually smell it on her. She admitted to smoking for 20 years, which changes her heart age a lot. Because she smokes, Regina’s real age was actually 52, which was pretty shocking to Regina. Regina said “I’ll quit today” but then said she’d tried to quit 5-6 times, and Dr Oz said the average person takes six times to actually quit smoking.
Dr Oz: High Blood Pressure Affecting The Heart
Finally, there was Florence, who was 46-years-old and had a blood pressure of 130/70 with a BMI of 26.5. What Dr Oz shared is that blood pressure can actually age you even more than cigareettes can. High blood pressure can increase your heart age by up to 10 years. Because of her high blood pressure, her heart age was 53. Dr Oz shared that music can actually lower your blood pressure, so listen to soothing music for 30 minutes each day.
Do you have any of these risk factors in common with any of these women?
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