8 Habits to Slow Down Aging

Findings presented at the 2023 American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia indicate that practicing certain healthy lifestyle behaviors and managing biological markers related to cardiovascular health may result in a younger biological age compared to chronologic age, the number of years lived according to the calendar.¹

The American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 checklist consists of behaviors and factors that support heart and brain health:

Eat better
Exercise regularly
Quit tobacco
Get adequate, healthy sleep
Maintain a healthy weight
Maintain healthy cholesterol
Maintain healthy blood sugar
Maintain healthy blood pressure²

The finding of slower biological aging was determined from a study of 6,593 men and women enrolled in the 2015-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. Researchers used a novel “methylation clock” to estimate biological age, and compared groups based on their degree of adherence to Life’s Essential 8.

Those who checked off more items on the Life’s Essential 8 list were found to biologically younger, while those with less adherence to the 8 factors were biologically older. Lower biological age was also associated with better cardiovascular health.

“Greater adherence to all Life’s Essential 8 metrics and improving your cardiovascular health can slow down your body’s aging process and have a lot of benefits down the line,” stated senior author Nour Makarem, PhD, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “Reduced biologic aging is not just associated with lower risk of chronic disease such as heart disease, it is also associated with longer life.”

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Apply What You’ve Learned: Life’s Essential 8

“Eat better” is the number one item on the Life’s Essential 8 list. The AHA defines this as consuming whole foods, lean protein, nuts, seeds and an abundance of fruit and vegetables (think Mediterranean diet). They recommend cooking with olive or canola oil rather than tropical oils.
A study that examined adherence to Life’s Essential 8 in a large sample of the US population concluded that overall cardiovascular health remained well below optimal levels, presenting significant opportunities to improve heart health by following healthier habits.³
Other research has found high Life’s Essential 8 scores to be associated with a lower risk of stroke, dementia, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), chronic kidney disease, diabetic kidney disease and premature mortality from cardiovascular disease or any cause.^4-10 One study concluded that a high score for Life’s Essential 8 may lower the risk of 25 common noncommunicable chronic diseases.¹¹

References

Hosalli R et al. Associations of Life’s Essential 8 with phenotypic age in a Nationally Representative Cohort of US Adults. American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2023.
American Heart Association. Life's Essential 8™. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/lifes-essential-8
Lloyd-Jones DM et al. Circulation. 2022 Sep 13;146(11):822-835.
Wu S et al. Stroke. 2023 Sep;54(9):2369-2379.
Petermann-Rocha F et al. Curr Probl Cardiol. 2023 Jul 7;48(11):101934.
Wang l et al. J Transl Med. 2022 Dec 23;20(1):616.
Tang R et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2023 Oct;118(4):804-811.
Sun Y et al. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2023 Jul;39(5):e3636.
Gao J et al. J Am Heart Assoc. 2023 Sep 5;12(17):e029399.
Sun J et al. BMC Med. 2023 Mar 29;21(1):116.
Yu Y et al. Chin Med J (Engl). 2023 Oct 10.

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