Six Seven is a gone-viral “brainrot” that surprisingly fits our topic for this column.
I am not talking about trivial Internet activities or sayings of teens that made the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
Rather, I focus on the variable separation of our calendar years from vital fitness years. Yup, calendar years have “some” actuarial reasons for being – like mandatory retirement ages, or Social Security/ Medicare start times. And, sure, it is pleasing to celebrate many candles on birthday treats as we age. However, calendar ages become 6 7 if we focus on vital healthspan and healthitude years. After all, what good are birthday candles if we cannot blow ’em out like this, a discouraged and winded elder?
I hone in on three vital estimators that you should put in your healthitude toolkit.
- The first is Dr. Thomas Perl’s Living to 100 calculator. This free and anonymous questionnaire pegs the factors that determine your and my lifespan prospects. Think of seat belts, no smoking, and dental flossing as life extenders! You know that I say there is more to vital lives than “just longevity” – right?
2. The second estimator focuses on America’s top killer – heart disease prospects. The American Heart Association’s PREVENT calculator is an evolving “yardstick” that now includes vitals for older folks like me. Yes, the PREVENT acronym is relevant: Predicting Risk of cardiovascular disease EVENTs … This tool is for “clinicians to help people understand their risk for developing heart disease, stroke, or heart failure. It is designed to estimate risk based on health factors that assess cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic health.”
I particularly like the inclusion of metabolic health in this PREVENT estimator as it is intertwined with cardiovascular health in systematic ways!
If your medical team doesn’t use the PREVENT tool to help you evaluate your CVH strengths and weaknesses – it should!
3. The third tool that I cite is the very credible and valuable estimator developed by a Norwegian research organization for VO2 maximum. Our capacity for ingesting Oxygen to produce motion and work is vital. Period.
I challenge anyone who is interested in healthspan and healthitude to get familiar with and to improve VO2 maximum. Yes, you can!
Why?
My personal example today:
The average VO2 max for a 73-year old male is 35 ml/kg/min.
I am blessed, and work hard to have a VO2 max of ~ 48 ml/kg/min. That is the cardiovascular capacity of a 42-year-old male.
I’ll take that as a reward for my hard work, and acknowledge a little blessing of nature.
How much sweat is recommended for you and me to improve our fitness age and change the trajectory of physical decline? IT DEPENDS. I have written about the evolving awareness of DOSE-RESPONSE curves for each athlete.
Too much of a good thing is not always wonderful. The issues center on acute inflammation and recovery phases.
Trust sports cardiologists if you don’t believe me!
Until next time,
DF
ps – Stay Well Past Forty!