How the Cardiovascular System Is Affected by Aging

During your morning run, you feel your heart's steady beat. You align your foot hitting the pavement to your heart’s rhythmic pattern, focusing on the inhale and exhale of your lungs along with it. Throughout this process, you probably aren’t thinking about whether your heart, blood vessels, and arteries are changing as you age. 

When most people think about heart disease, they lump it into the group of age-related illnesses that they don’t need to be concerned about “until later.” However, heart attacks and cardiovascular illnesses are on the rise. Even 20 and 30-year-olds are experiencing a higher rate of heart attacks and strokes than they did in previous decades. 

The reason? It’s a complicated answer. In this article, we’ll discuss why cardiovascular health decreases with age and how you can support your heart health in the here and now. 

How Does Cardiovascular Health Change With Age?

If you’re reading this in your 20s, you may not think much about your heart health. After all, heart failure is an elderly person’s disease — right? Well, it used to be. Heart disease has been and remains the number one killer of Americans for 100 years in a row. 

While numerous factors contribute to compromised heart health, aging would seem impossible to avoid. However, this isn’t entirely true. Let’s examine how the cardiovascular system changes with age and determine whether these changes are avoidable.

Arterial Stiffness

Blood vessels that carry blood to and from your heart are flexible tubes that can expand and contract. For instance, blood travels to the legs and feet when you go for your morning run and to your arms when you lift weights. 

The ability of your blood vessels to contract and expand is important, but as we age, they stiffen and become less flexible, a condition known as arteriosclerosis. This can cause problems with blood pressure inside your veins, making it hard for the body to send blood where it’s needed. 

This added stress can also result in hypertension and increase a person’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Plaque

Your blood contains fatty deposits that help control cholesterol circulation in your body. Although cholesterol usually carries a negative connotation, it’s important and beneficial to your health in the right amount. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) are two types of fatty molecules that help carry cholesterol to the places it needs to go.

LDL is often referred to as the “bad” cholesterol. That’s because LDL molecules move cholesterol inside your coronary arteries, where it can accumulate and create plaque. Plaque in a person’s arteries leads to a condition called atherosclerosis, which is a risk factor for myocardial infarction (heart attack) and stroke. 

HDL is referred to as “good” cholesterol because it moves cholesterol to the liver, where it is flushed out of the body. With age, plaque from LDL molecules builds and grows. Older adults may have buildup in larger arteries and the legs, which can result in blood clots, stroke, and coronary artery disease. 

Heart Rate

Another change in the heart with age is its inability to beat as rapidly as it did when a person was younger. The pumping of your heart while you go for a jog in your 20s may be dramatically different from your heartbeat when you jog in your 60s. Interestingly, your resting heart rate does not typically change significantly due to the normal aging process. 

Arrhythmias

Maybe the last time you had heart flutters was when you first met your significant other. However, you might experience them more frequently as you age, and it might not be because of the romance in your life. 

Heart flutters, palpitations, or feeling like your heart is skipping a beat can happen more frequently as you get older and usually doesn’t indicate anything serious. However, if you notice these changes increase and become more persistent, you could have a heart arrhythmia that needs to be treated. 

Enlarged Chambers

Your heart has four chambers: the left atrium, right atrium, left ventricle, and right ventricle. These chambers also change with time, enlarging and developing thicker walls. This dilation and thickening are age-related changes that can increase a person’s risk of developing atrial fibrillation. 

Atrial fibrillation occurs when the heart's upper atriums and lower ventricles do not work together properly. This can cause irregular heartbeats and dysfunction, resulting in the heart beating too quickly and its chambers filling with blood. 

Atrial fibrillation can lead to a higher occurrence of stroke. Similarly, ventricular fibrillation is an irregular heartbeat in which the misalignment originates in the ventricles rather than the atriums.

Problems With Heart Valves

Just like the blood vessels and arteries can stiffen with age, so can the valves that control blood flow in and out of the heart. With aortic valve stiffening comes the risk of fluid accumulating in the heart, lungs, abdomen, and lower extremities. 

Although the cardiovascular system will change, heart disease is not always the result. It’s possible that your cardiovascular system can change without problems. Still, if you’re not proactive about cardiovascular aging, you may begin to develop age-associated cardiovascular conditions that can increase your risk of heart disease. 

What Happens if You Don’t Take Care of Heart Health?

It’s not good news, which is why heart disease is still the number-one killer. If you don’t aggressively pursue heart health, the effects of age on your cardiovascular system, combined with lifestyle choices, can set the stage for heart disease and a shorter lifespan. 

Symptoms that your cardiovascular health could be in danger include:

• High Blood Pressure: A systolic reading of less than 120 and a diastolic reading of less than 80 is considered optimal.
• High Cholesterol: Cholesterol levels under 200 are optimal. Levels over 240 are considered very high.
• Obesity: Being overweight increases your likelihood of developing heart disease. Obesity is defined as having a BMI over 30.
• Type 2 Diabetes: People with heart disease often suffer from type 2 diabetes. One does not cause the other, but the two have a strong link.

These illnesses may seem like they are only applicable to older people, but remember that new data supports that adults between the ages of 20 and 30 are now more at risk of developing these conditions than ever before. The time to take care of your heart is now. 

Thankfully, you can help the cells of your cardiovascular system age in reverse.

How Can You Age in Reverse?

If changes in your heart health seem troubling, don’t fret. Your cardiovascular system ages biologically instead of chronologically. In other words, it can age faster or slower than your calendar birthday. Being proactive about your heart health can help you improve your cardiovascular system rather than watching it decline due to age-related impairment. 

It Starts With Your Cells

You may or may not have heard about the importance of cellular health. In a nutshell, cellular health refers to how well your cells are functioning. 

The health of your cells determines your biological age (the age your body is regardless of your birthday). Researchers have identified that the body biologically ages through several different cell processes, known as the hallmarks of aging.

Taking care of our cells is just as important as physical activity and a balanced diet. It’s an extremely proactive way to care for your body and help give it a fighting chance against the onset of age-related illness.

The Problem With Aging Cells 

Keeping your cells healthy is a complex task. In addition to basic lifestyle choices that everyone is aware of (like stopping smoking, exercising, eating a balanced diet, and managing stress), you’ll also want to ensure your cells are protected as they age. 

Cells, like those in your cardiovascular system, change with age. They become weaker and produce less cellular energy. In fact, these weakening cells can lead to a recently discovered nutrient deficiency known as Cellular Fragility Syndrome. 

A massive paper was just published that outlined this nutrient deficiency, which is caused by not having enough of a fatty acid called pentadecanoic acid, or C15:0. This is a big deal because the discovery of nutrient deficiencies is rare (think vitamin C and scurvy, or vitamin D and rickets). 

This deficiency has also been linked to a type of cellular death called ferroptosis. Unlike apoptosis, a programmed and expected form of cell death, ferroptosis accelerates the aging process and negatively impacts heart, liver, and metabolic health. 

Even more alarming is that Cellular Fragility Syndrome may affect one in three people globally. If we can correct this deficiency and support our cells, we can give our bodies (including our cardiovascular systems) a fighting chance against premature aging. 

The solution? Fatty15.

Fixing the Deficiency With fatty15

Fatty15 is the first and only supplement that contains the pure, vegan-friendly version of C15:0. Why would you need a supplement to correct Cellular Fragility Syndrome and protect your heart, liver, and metabolic health? 

There are several reasons. Fatty15:

• Strengthens cell membranes by up to 80%, keeping your cells strong
• Improves mitochondrial function and ATP levels by up to 350%
• Lowers “bad” LDL cholesterol
• Improves liver enzymes
• Targets six out of the 12 hallmarks of aging to help you age slower than your chronological age

The only way to know for certain if you have Cellular Fragility Syndrome is by ordering the fatty15 C15:0 at-home test or having your doctor perform a blood test. Additionally, you can determine the result of increasing your C15:0 levels by monitoring your complete blood count, fasting lipid panel, and liver enzymes.

C15:0 levels should be above 0.2% of your total fatty acids to prevent nutritional deficiencies and Cellular Fragility Syndrome. It’s worth noting that in Blue Zones (where people consistently live to be 100), C15:0 levels usually measure between 0.4% and 0.6% of total fatty acids.

Why a Supplement Over a Food Source?

You may wonder if you can simply increase your intake of C15:0 through your diet. Unfortunately, there are limitations to this approach to consider. You’d have to consume a lot of whole milk to get enough C15:0 to increase your circulating levels, and you’d be simultaneously consuming excess calories, sugar (from lactose), and “bad” even-chain saturated fat that is consistently associated with poor health outcomes. 

By contrast, the pure, no-cow-involved version of C15:0 found in fatty15 does not contain any additional ingredients and weighs in at just one calorie per dose. For long-term heart, liver, metabolic, and total wellness, incorporating fatty15 into your daily routine is one of the smartest decisions you can make. 

Be Heart Smart

Your cardiology appointment is coming up. Why not take steps to impress your doctor and improve your myocardium (heart muscle) as it ages? 

One of the easiest and most beneficial things you can do to strengthen the cells in your cardiovascular system is taking the first and only C15:0 supplement, fatty15. With fatty15, you can strengthen your cells and support your cardiovascular health.

Sources:

What's Behind the Rise in Heart Attacks Among Young People? | Cardio Metabolic Institute

More than half of U.S. adults don’t know heart disease is leading cause of death, despite 100-year reign | American Heart Association

Heart Health and Aging | National Institute of Aging

Hallmarks of aging: An expanding universe | PubMed

The Cellular Stability Hypothesis: Evidence of Ferroptosis and Accelerated Aging-Associated Diseases as Newly Identified Nutritional Pentadecanoic Acid (C15:0) Deficiency Syndrome|MDPI

Efficacy of dietary odd-chain saturated fatty acid pentadecanoic acid parallels broad associated health benefits in humans: could it be essential? | Scientific Reports

A review of odd-chain fatty acid metabolism and the role of pentadecanoic Acid (c15:0) and heptadecanoic Acid (c17:0) in health and disease | PubMed

Effect of an Asian-adapted Mediterranean diet and pentadecanoic acid on fatty liver disease: the TANGO randomized controlled trial | ScienceDirect

Pentadecanoic Acid (C15:0), an Essential Fatty Acid, Shares Clinically Relevant Cell-Based Activities with Leading Longevity-Enhancing Compounds | MDPI