Your Heart May Be Decades ‘Older’ Than Your Actual Age

NORWICH, England — Your body might be 35, but your heart could be pumping like it’s 80. A team of researchers from the UK, Singapore, and Spain discovered people with conditions like obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure have hearts functioning as if they’re nearly five years older than their actual age. For those with severe obesity, the numbers are shocking: their hearts may function as if they’re 45 years older than their chronological age.

The Age Gap That Could Save Your Life

Led by Dr. Pankaj Garg from the University of East Anglia’s Norwich Medical School, the international team analyzed cardiac MRI scans from 563 people across five global centers. They compared 191 healthy individuals against 366 participants with cardiovascular risk factors.

They found that the left atrium—the chamber receiving oxygen-rich blood from the lungs—showed the most consistent age-related changes. This chamber naturally grows larger and less efficient as people age, but these changes accelerate dramatically in people with heart problems.

While healthy people’s heart age matched their chronological age, those with risk factors showed hearts functioning almost five years older on average.

Breaking down the data by degree of obesity revealed an even more concerning picture:

• People with mild obesity (BMI 30-34.9) had hearts about four years older than their actual age
• Those with moderate obesity (BMI 35-39.9) showed hearts roughly five years older
• People with severe obesity (BMI over 40) had hearts functioning 45 years beyond their chronological age

Diabetes showed an unusual pattern, with its greatest impact in middle age—diabetics in their 40s had hearts functioning up to 56 years older than healthy peers. High blood pressure consistently aged hearts prematurely until around age 70, while people with atrial fibrillation showed significantly older heart ages across all age groups.

A New Way to Understand Heart Health

Instead of overwhelming patients with complex statistics, doctors can now deliver a simple message: “Your heart is working like someone much older than you.”

“By demonstrating the discrepancy in cardiac and functional age, CMR-derived functional heart age might highlight patients in need of risk factor interventions and help simplify concepts for patients,” the researchers wrote in their paper.

This approach offers a powerful conceptual tool. Rather than decoding complex risk factors, patients can grasp one straightforward fact: their heart is functioning like that of someone decades older.

“People with health issues like diabetes or obesity often have hearts that are aging faster than they should – sometimes by decades. So, this could help doctors step in early to stop heart disease in its tracks,” Dr. Garg explains in a statement. “This is a game-changer for keeping hearts healthier, longer.

What This Means for Medical Standards

The research, published in the European Heart Journal Open, also uncovered fascinating normal changes in heart function throughout aging. The pumping efficiency of the left ventricle—your heart’s main chamber—actually increases with age in healthy individuals, but this beneficial adaptation gets disrupted in people with heart problems.

Current medical standards might need revision to account for these normal age-related changes. The paper notes that “Many accepted measures of cardiac function, including ejection fraction, may require age adjustment to factor in reduced compliance of the heart during healthy aging.”

“Heart disease is one of the world’s biggest killers. Our new MRI method gives doctors a powerful tool to look inside the heart like never before and spot trouble early – before symptoms even start,” says Garg. “By knowing your heart’s true age, patients could get advice or treatments to slow down the aging process, potentially preventing heart attacks or strokes. It could also be the wake-up call people need to take better care of themselves, whether that’s eating healthier, exercising more, or following their doctor’s advice. It’s about giving people a fighting chance against heart disease.”

For the average person, the takeaway is clear: cardiovascular risk factors don’t just increase your chance of heart attack or stroke—they’re actively aging your heart beyond your years. This new way of measuring heart age could motivate more people to take their cardiovascular health seriously through medication, diet, and exercise before serious problems develop.