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The heart has an affinity for the number 100!

Today, the talk of the town is how to make healthy lifestyle choices and how to keep the heart young forever. We can successfully stay away from heart diseases by focusing on some simple prevention strategies. If there’s one number your heart is closely connected to, it is the number hundred – yes the magic number that you need to remember is 100!

A 100 years and beyond

To begin with, all of us aspire to live a 100 healthy years and rightfully so. If we have survived the most critical phase of life – from a single cell to a healthy little human– we are most likely on the path to making a century! Our body and our organs are capable of functioning well beyond a 100 years; however, there seem to be several unfathomable hurdles in this journey to which most of us succumb. Nevertheless, there are men and women among us who have effortlessly and graciously lived for over ten decades. In fact, the term used to identify demographic or geographic areas in the world where more people than normal are living beyond hundred years is “Blue Zones”. Research in these peoples has shown a close link between their lifestyle choices and their longevity (if you’d like to know more on this, Dan Buettner has authored two interesting books on the Blue Zones in the last decade. I’ve read the first one and would definitely recommend it).

 

Birthday candles number one hundred isolated on white background

Fasting blood sugar

Fasting blood sugar is nothing but the sugar level in our blood after overnight fasting, which in other words is the level of blood sugar in an empty stomach and approximately 10-12 hours after the previous meal. Insulin is the hormone that regulates the sugar levels in the blood and any dysfunction or insufficiency of insulin – known as diabetes – hampers this delicate balance. The cut-off for normal fasting blood sugar is 100 mg/dl, the normal range being 70-99 mg/dl. If your fasting blood sugar value is between 100 and 125, you have a condition called pre-diabetes, which if left alone will progress to full-blown diabetes. The best way to convert from pre-diabetes to a normal health condition is by intensive lifestyle modification.

Blood lipid levels

Dyslipidemia or abnormal blood cholesterol level is an important link in the coronary block mechanism. The optimal level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, bad cholesterol) in our body is less than 100 mg/dl. Triglycerides, the body’s energy reserve, should ideally be below 100 mg/dl although 150 is the official cut-off. The level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, good cholesterol) should be over 50 mg/dl as at that level it is protective against coronary heart disease.

Mean blood pressure

This is nothing but the average of the systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings. If your blood pressure is 120/80, the mean blood pressure is [(120+80)/2] 100. What a surprise! A mean blood pressure above 100 is bad news – the heart’s pumping efficacy just starts dropping.

Body Weight

Coming to the issue of body weight, many of us at some point in time would have planned to shed a few kilos (any may have succeeded or given up on the plan). The ideal body weight is calculated by simply subtracting 100 from your height (in centimeters). The ideal weight of a person who is 165 cm tall is approximately 65 kilograms (165-100=65). At this weight, the body mass index (BMI) of the person will be within normal range too.

Heart rate

The heart of a healthy human adult beats approximately 72 times per minute in the resting condition. The natural triggers that increase the heart rate are increased physical and emotional activity. However, if the heart rate is above 100 per minute in the resting state, it is called tachycardia and needs to be medically evaluated. Similarly, a heart rate below 60 per minute is called bradycardia and needs further probing.

So dear friends, let us start thinking and acting proactively to keep the risk factors for heart disease at bay. Whether it is the three silent killers (diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia) or your body weight or your heart rate that you want to maintain within healthy limits, just keep in mind the number 100. By making some simple and easy lifestyle changes, we can all ensure we live beyond a hundred healthy and happy years!