Anti-Aging: It’s not Just About Me

My anti-aging lifestyle includes doing whatever I can to help my husband stay youthful and healthy. It’s not all about me. LOL.

Besides the fact that I love him (we’ve been together for over 40 years), I hate to imagine my life without him. When you’ve got a good partnership going, each one takes up the slack for the other. He handles things I don’t do as well as he; and vice versa.

Chris’ sister recently told him she had been diagnosed as a carrier of a genetic predisposition which causes sudden cardiac death (SCD). SCD is defined as death within an hour of first symptoms. Their dad died within minutes of slumping over. A male with one parent who suffered SCD has double the average risk of dying the same way. If both parents died of cardiac arrest, the risk is ninefold.

We already knew the standard preventive measures: stay at a healthy weight (he does); keep your blood pressure down (he is on medication for that); watch your cholesterol levels (we don’t even know his levels); stay physically active (he’s not too good there); don’t smoke (he quit 40 years ago).

What the doctor told Rosemary was new to us. He said people at risk because of the SCD gene and family history should be especially careful to keep their vitamin B levels up by taking folic acid supplements. I’m researching what the daily dose should be. So far I’ve narrowed it to between 400 mcg (recommended by the American Heart Association) and 1000 mcg (from two European studies on heart disease).

I need to get after my DH to get his cholesterol checked. There’s no way I can entice him into exercising. Believe me, I’ve tried! A simple supplement – that’s an easy lifestyle change. I just ordered one bottle (250 capsules) of 800 mcg Folic Acid from Puritan’s Pride and got two more bottles free.

That should hold him for a while and allow me to sleep easier.

Tags: anti-aging, sudden cardiac death gene, Puritan’s Pride for supplement buys, sudden cardiac death risk, life extension, healthy lifestyle, vitamin B, folic acid for heart health