Читать книгу You: Staying Young: Make Your RealAge Younger and Live Up to 35% Longer - Michael Roizen F. - Страница 24

During your next intense cardiovascular workout (and with your doctor’s consent), bring your heart rate to 80 percent or more of your maximum heart rate (that’s 220 minus your age). After you stop, how long does it take for your heart rate to drop to 66 beats less than your 80 percent max?

A. Less than 2 minutes

B. Less than 4 minutes

C. Oxygen, NOW!

Results: If you recover quickly enough to have your heart rate drop 66 beats in less than 2 minutes, you’re in prime cardiovascular shape, and your RealAge is at least 8 years younger than your calendar age. Anything longer means you have some work to do.

We all know the things that make our hearts skip a beat (first loves and scoring the winning goal in the cup final). We all know the things that make our hearts pound faster than a military drum (horror flicks and being six minutes away from a train that pulls out in five). And we all like to think that we know the kinds of things that will make our hearts stop forever: cigarettes, sausage links and cyanide.

But when we think about ageing-related heart disease, we have to go beyond the basic assumptions that either we’re born with bad genes that destine us for cardiac troubles, or we create our own by gunking up our arteries with forty-five years of fish and chips.

The damage that we do to our hearts – whether through genetics, lifestyle choices or both – is caused not solely by genes or fried food, but also by a double-whammy Major Ager of mitochondria-induced oxidation and inflammation that happens within your arteries.