Know your numbers

Blood pressure test

Blood pressure is the amount of force exerted by your blood on the walls of your arteries as it passes through. If your blood pressure is high (the optimum level is 115/76; and national median is 129/86), that force is literally gouging holes in the inner lining of your arteries. But high blood pressure has no symptoms, which makes it easy to ignore.

High blood pressure magnifies the symptoms of aging and diabetes, causes kidney failure, and many other hormone-related conditions. If you lose just 10 percent of the weight you gained since you were 18 you can make yourself up to five years younger.

Blood test

A yearly blood test will shed insight into your overall heart health. Here's what to look for:

Blood sugar: Keep it lower than 100 mg/dl. The excess sugar in blood that's caused by diabetes damages the arteries. All of us should avoid simple sugars and saturated trans fats like jelly doughnuts.

Cholesterol: Know the components not the total value. LDL cholesterol is carried by low-density lipoproteins, and it's the "bad" kind - the kind that breaks apart easily and builds up on the walls of your arteries wherever there's a nick or hole. Exercising, losing as few as 10 pounds, avoiding simple carbohydrates, and restricting saturated and trans fats will lower your LDL. Women especially, but men over the age of 60 should concentrate on their HDL cholesterol (the healthy kind) numbers, as for some reason it's level is more important as we get older and if we are feminine. Here again, doing physical activity, enjoying healthy omega-3 fats, the vitamins niacin and pantothenic acid, and a little alcohol every day increase this make-yourself-younger item.

Know your heart

Your heart is the hub of blood flow. The blood in your arteries and veins must travel through it. If there's a break or obstruction, your blood flow is restricted.

Arteries: Blood flows through the arteries. High blood pressure, smoking, and high blood sugar can nick the lining of arteries. Your body tries to repair the nicks with LDL cholesterol. Your spatula for these plaster repairs is healthy HDL cholesterol which tries to remove the excess LDL cholesterol from the patch. But if your patch has extra LDL, the cholesterol that gets into the middle layer of your arteries, white cells invade, causing inflammation. If that inflammation causes the plaque to rupture, blood clots form - leading to heart attack, stroke, impotence, wrinkling, or memory loss.

Nicks: In addition to high blood pressure, smoking, and high blood sugar, gum disease, stress, and anger can cause nicks in your arteries. Arteries expand when you exercise to allow more blood through.

Physical activity is essential to your heart and bones. Exercise not only helps control blood pressure, it increases your muscles' sensitivity to receive glucose. Insulin transports glucose to your muscles so it gets used rather than staying in your bloodstream.

Bottom line: It's important to know your numbers for blood pressure, blood sugar, and LDL and HDL cholesterol. Keeping up with them and keeping your weight down improves your blood flow and reduces your risk for heart disease.

Who is Dr. Roizen?

A nationally renowned expert, Michael Roizen, M.D., or "Dr. Mike," is personable, witty, and full of important health insights imparted through his books, a radio show, and his Website, www.realage.com. He's also chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, where he practices both internal medicine and anesthesiology. He's listed - along with his physician wife - as one of the 1,000 Best Doctors in the United States.

At the age of 62, Dr. Mike has also been a top-ranked squash player. His RealAge books and his "YOU" books - coauthored with Dr. Mehmet Oz - YOU: On a Diet, YOU: The Owner's Manual, YOU: Staying Young and YOU: The Smart Patient - are runaway bestsellers. His radio show, "YOU: The Owner's Manual with Dr. Michael Roizen," is sponsored by Humana and heard on radio stations nationwide. His Website, www.realage.com, has a program aimed at helping health-conscious consumers stop biological aging and live longer, more exciting lives.