Ageing Heart
(Former Director Grade Scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India)
www.daylife.page
Aging is a gradual, continuous process of natural change that begins in early adulthood, in otherwordsaging starts when we stop growing. During early middle age, many bodily functions begin to gradually decline. People do not become old or elderly at any specific age. Traditionally, age 65 has been designated as the beginning of old ag but it may vary from person to person. In broader terms, aging can be broken down into four distinct categories: Chronological aging, biological aging, psychological aging, and social aging. Over time, these factors can damage our cells and contribute to aging.
Damage-related and environmental aging
• air pollution.
• tobacco smoke.
• alcohol consumption.
• malnutrition.
• ultraviolet radiation (UV) exposure.
Aging can cause changes in the heart and blood vessels as in other organs . For example, as you get older, your heart can't beat as fast during physical activity or times of stress as it did when you were younger. However, the number of heart beats per minute (heart rate) at rest does not change significantly with normal aging. Your heart, like any other muscle, can weaken over time, especially if you are sedentary. As you age and become less active, the muscle in your heart's left ventricle — the chamber that pumps oxygen-rich blood back out to the body — becomes stiffer.
Old heart
Normal Changes
Changes in the myocardium during aging
Advanced age is the most critical risk factor for heart disease and heart failure. Most heart failure occurs in individuals older than 65 years, and yet we have an incomplete understanding of how aging promotes heart failure. With age heart functions are affected even at individual cell level.
There is a progressive degeneration of the cardiac structures with a loss of elasticity, fibrotic changes in the valves of the heart. The pumping capacity of the heart is reduced with age due to a variety of changes affecting the structure and function of the heart muscle. Blood pressure is a measure of cardiovascular efficiency. In general, most older people have a moderate increase in blood pressure
The blood itself changes slightly with age. Normal aging causes a reduction in total body water. The circulation of blood is slow with age. As part of this, there is less fluid in the bloodstream, so blood volume decreases. That is why seniors who are bedridden frequently often experience circulatory issues. Blood flow during aging is affected by the decrease in the number of pacemaker cells. Beginning by age 60 there is a pronounced decrease, in the number of pacemaker cells and by age 75 less than 10% of the cell number found in the young adult remains. That is why in some electronic pacemaker in implanted.
Changes in heart due to aging
Valves
The valves inside the heart, which control the direction of blood flow, thicken and become stiffer. Calcific deposits frequently are present on one or more aortic valve cusps. These changes do not usually cause significant dysfunction. A heart murmur caused by valve stiffness is fairly common in older people. (The author has his own study and views)
