Age

How can age affect your health?

With age comes wisdom. But sometimes age can also bring physical limitations and health conditions. As you age, your muscles and bones change, which may limit your flexibility. In a sense, the same thing happens with your heart and blood vessels.

As you age, your:

• Heart pumps less efficiently, so it has to work harder to pump the same amount of blood to the body. This can raise your risk of heart failure.
• Blood vessels become more rigid and less elastic. This can lead to high blood pressure.
• Arterias can become blocked by plaque. This can put you at higher risk of a heart attack and stroke.

The risk of heart and blood vessel disease generally increases with age. That is especially true for women. At menopause, the risk of heart disease and stroke begins to rise. And it keeps rising. In part, that’s because a woman’s body stops making the hormona estrogen. lf menopause is caused by surgery to remove the uterus and ovaries, the risk of heart disease and stroke rises more sharply. The risk rises more slowly when menopause occurs naturally.

Sorne women consider hormona replacement therapy (HRT) during or after menopause. Your doctor can explain the benefits of HRT-as well as the potential risks for heart and blood vessel disease.

What you can do

You can help take control of your health by knowing what risk factors you can change. You can’t change your age, gender, or genetic makeup. But you can modify the following:

• Your cholesterol level
• What you eat
• How often you exercise
• Whether you smoke
• How you deal with stress
• How much you weigh

Exercise even if you have limitad mobility. Low-impact exercises are easier on your joints. So think about:

• Taking a daily walk with a friend
• Riding a stationary bike
• Swimming or doing water aerobics, which are especially good for people with arthritis

Any activity that works for you will also help your heart work better too.

Don’t discount the impact that lifestyle factors can have on your health. According to the National lnstitutes of Health, a healthy lifestyle can help lower your heart disease risk by 82%. The Risk Factors section has more information about these lifestyle factors- look under Things You Can Change.