Author: Martin Middeke
_Martin Middeke_
Reading time: 21 minutes
Synopsis
The Age Formula (2025) explains how good blood flow can lower your risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. It also shows how it can help you live independently as you get older. You will learn how your heart, blood vessels, and lungs work together. You will also find out what you can do to stay fit and healthy into old age.
What’s in it for you: Good blood flow and a long life.
Who doesn’t want to live a long, healthy life? And have lots of time for hobbies, family, and good experiences? There is no magic pill for this. But many people today live to a very old age. Some people even become “supercentenarians,” living to 110 years or more. Good blood flow is very important for healthy aging. It helps oxygen and nutrients move through your body. This goes from your brain all the way to your toes. Problems with blood flow cause most heart and blood vessel diseases.
Luckily, you can do many things to prevent these risks. Your lifestyle has a big effect on your blood flow. This also affects your health when you are older. In the next few minutes, we will look closely at how these things work. We will also see which three factors are most important for your blood flow.
Blink 1 – Heart and blood vessels: a well-working team
Many people wish for a long life where they can decide things for themselves. They want to get old but also stay healthy. They want to keep doing things they enjoy for as long as possible. This is a dream for many, not just for those who buy expensive anti-aging treatments.
Thomas Sydenham, an important English doctor from the 17th century, already knew what matters for a long life. He said, “A man is as old as his arteries.” He was absolutely right. Healthy blood vessels are key to keeping our bodies working for a long time. Of course, this is true for women too, not just men.
But what makes a healthy circulatory system? The author has been a doctor and a specialist in blood pressure for decades. He has found three important things: the blood vessels, the heart, and the lungs. Let’s look at how these three work together in detail.
First, the blood vessels. Our body has an amazing network of blood paths, like the roads in a city. This network makes sure every cell gets enough oxygen and nutrients. Arteries carry blood from the heart to the body. Capillaries deliver blood to the tissues. Veins carry blood back to the heart. All our blood vessels together are about 100,000 kilometers long. This is two and a half times longer than Germany’s train tracks.
For your organs to get enough blood, you need a steady blood flow. The aorta is very important here. It needs to be flexible. If it is not, blood is pumped from the heart to the organs in sudden bursts. But because the aorta is flexible, it can stretch. It can take the force of the heartbeat and send the blood smoothly. So, how flexible our blood vessels are really helps with blood flow.
Now, let’s talk about the second factor: the heart. The heart is the body’s main pump. It beats about 100,000 times every day. With each beat, it pumps about 70 milliliters of blood into your body. The pressure at which this happens affects your chances of staying healthy for a long time.
Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury, or mmHg. This unit comes from old blood pressure machines that used a tube filled with mercury. We usually measure two numbers for blood pressure. The first number shows the pressure of blood on the vessel walls. This is when blood flows back into your arm artery after the cuff loosens. This is called systolic blood pressure. The second number, called diastolic pressure, is the pressure when your heart relaxes. Generally, numbers below 120/80 mmHg are best. They mean the lowest risk for heart and blood vessel diseases.
Your resting heart rate is also important for blood flow. The body gets blood best when the heart beats about 60 times per minute. Then, the heart and aorta work well together. For adults, a heart rate that is always too high means constant stress for the heart. This raises the risk of getting sick.
So much for the blood vessel system and the heart. But what part do the lungs play in blood flow?
Blink 2 – How breathing helps your body’s circulation
Breathing is the first thing we do when we are born. It is also the last thing we will ever do. Most of the time, we don’t even notice it. That’s what makes breathing so interesting. It works all the time in the background. It plays a key role in your heart and blood vessel system.
Your lungs give your body oxygen. Our cells need this oxygen for their work, and they get it through the blood. At the same time, waste products are made, especially carbon dioxide (CO₂). This CO₂ must be taken out of the blood all the time. This is exactly what the lungs do. They take carbon dioxide from the blood, breathe it out, and bring in fresh oxygen.
This exchange happens automatically. Special chemical sensors in your blood constantly measure the amount of breathing gases. If the CO₂ level goes up, your brain sends a signal. This makes you breathe.
An adult’s lungs usually hold between three and five liters of air. But for your blood circulation, it’s not how much air your lungs can hold that matters most. It’s how often you breathe. The normal breathing rate is between ten and fifteen breaths per minute. Just like with your heart, a slower rate is healthier here too. Breathing slower is better for your organs. It also means wider blood vessels, better blood flow, a slower heart rate, and lower blood pressure.
A simple test can help you feel your own breathing rhythm. Count your breaths for one minute. If the number is above ten, try to breathe slower and deeper on purpose. This can calm your body and circulation.
So now we know how the blood vessels, heart, and lungs should work together in theory. But this balance can be upset by different things outside our body.
Blink 3 – Things that put your circulation at risk
Sometimes, we don’t even notice how much stress our heart and blood vessel system is under. We might not notice until it’s too late. Many illnesses don’t show clear signs early on. Instead, they grow silently. There can be many reasons for this.
One of the biggest hidden problems for blood flow is long-term stress. It starts in a part of the brain called the amygdalae. These parts check for dangers, fears, and stress from outside. They send signals to your nervous system. This then makes your heart beat faster and your blood pressure go up.
Our body can barely tell the difference between real and imagined stress. Whether a saber-toothed tiger is in front of us or we are just worried about a deadline, our nervous system reacts the same way. That’s why it’s vital to purposely lower stress and learn good ways to manage it.
Other things can also put a lot of strain on your blood flow. Not moving enough is one of the most common risks. If you hardly move, you greatly increase your risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. But even a little activity, like sports once or twice a week, clearly protects your heart and vessels. It also helps keep your blood pressure steady.
Being overweight makes this problem worse. If your Body-Mass-Index is over 27, your risk goes up a lot. If it’s over 30, it’s seen as very serious. At the same time, smoking harms all organs. It makes your blood vessels narrower. It reduces blood flow, especially in your legs. It also harms your lungs and greatly raises the risk of different types of cancer.
Problems with fat in your blood also pose a big danger to your blood vessels. Along with smoking, they are among the biggest threats to the blood vessels around your heart and in your neck. LDL cholesterol levels above 160 mg/dl or lipoprotein levels above 100 mg/dl are especially bad. These numbers show that fats can build up in your blood vessels and block blood flow.
If you check these numbers regularly, you protect not only your heart but also your whole blood vessel system. This lays a key foundation for a long, healthy life. Before we talk about easy ways to stay healthy every day, let’s look closer at what damage these problems can cause to your most important organs.
Blink 4 – Common diseases and what they do to your organs
When blood flow in our body is not working well, our organs don’t get enough oxygen and nutrients. This often leads to high blood pressure. This can have serious results like heart attacks, strokes, or kidney failure. Such heart and blood vessel diseases are the most common cause of death in Western countries. This is true for everyone, male or female.
But what exactly does high blood pressure do to the brain? Your brain can handle small changes in pressure for a while. This is a process called autoregulation. Sensors in the arteries of your neck tell your brain about changes. Then, your brain sends signals to your heart and arteries to control the pressure. However, ongoing high blood pressure or very sudden increases, for example, from strong stress, can stop these protective systems from working. The results can be serious: strokes, lasting brain damage, or memory problems caused by blood vessel issues are possible outcomes.
Poor blood flow can also have other effects that we notice less, but that still harm our lives. For example, it can affect your eyes. Common problems include high blood pressure or damage to blood vessels from diabetes. These can harm the tiny blood vessels in the retina of your eye. This can lead to sudden vision problems, blind spots, or even blindness.
Other organs also suffer from not enough blood flow. For men, it can cause problems with erections. And during pregnancy, poor blood flow to the uterus can raise the risk of early birth. It can also cause dangerous problems for the mother and baby.
But not only high blood pressure is a problem. Low blood pressure, called hypotension, can also be bad for your body. If your systolic blood pressure is below 90 to 100 mmHg, people often feel tired, lack energy, have trouble focusing or remembering, or even have blurry vision. You might have felt this briefly yourself. This happens when you stand up too fast from lying down, and you feel dizzy because your blood pressure drops.
Keeping your blood flow steady over time does not just lower the risk of sudden health problems. It also helps your body work well, helps you focus, and makes your daily life better. The author has put the most important numbers into a simple formula.
Blink 5 – The Age Formula: HAB 60-6-120
If you look closely at your health, you quickly see many complicated numbers to remember. Wouldn’t it be great to have a short formula? One that gives you the main signs for healthy blood flow in a simple way?
The author thought so too. From his many years of work as a doctor, he created a simple rule for healthy numbers. This rule brings together heart, lung, and blood vessel health: HAB 60-6-120. H stands for Heart rate. A stands for Breathing rate. B stands for Blood pressure. The ideal numbers are: 60 heartbeats per minute, six breaths per minute, and a systolic blood pressure of 120 mmHg.
As you get older, these numbers change naturally. So, you can change the formula. For example, it could be 70 heartbeats per minute, seven breaths, and a systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg. But as a general guide, these numbers can help you check your blood flow. They can also help you act early if there are problems.
In the last part, we will look at the most important lifestyle factors. These can help you improve your numbers and plan for a long, healthy life.
Blink 6 – Good daily habits for your health
Have you ever thought about how the food you eat every day directly affects your heart and blood vessels? Diet is much more than just getting energy.
An American study followed 75,000 people for twelve years. It clearly showed that people who eat carefully live longer and healthier. Eating according to the DASH formula is very effective. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This means eating fresh fruits and vegetables, less meat and more fish, low-fat dairy, whole grains, plant-based fats, nuts, and legumes. The DASH plan is like the Mediterranean diet. Many traditional Asian dishes also follow these same ideas.
What we avoid is just as important as what we eat. Highly processed foods, like ready meals, sausages, soft drinks, sweet breakfast cereals, sweets, or puddings, clearly raise the risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. They also increase the chance of dying early. They usually have a lot of sugar and unhealthy fats, almost no fiber, and harmful extra ingredients. These include flavor enhancers or preservatives. Drinking too much alcohol also puts stress on your heart and blood vessels and raises blood pressure.
Exercise is also one of the most important things for a long, healthy life. It makes your muscles strong, keeps your blood vessels flexible, and improves blood flow. Our bodies are made for activity, not for sitting for hours. Many doctors call sitting “the new smoking” for a good reason.
For good prevention, you just need moderate exercise for 150 to 300 minutes per week. Or, you can do intense exercise for 75 to 150 minutes. This can lower your risk of dying by 20 to 30 percent. It doesn’t matter if you spread these sessions throughout the week. Or if you really push yourself once or twice on the weekend. And it’s not so important which endurance sport you do, as long as you enjoy it.
Besides exercise, other steps like Kneipp cures or sauna visits can also make your heart and blood vessel system stronger. The idea is this: your body is exposed to changes in temperature. This improves blood flow and keeps your heart rate and blood pressure steady. However, if you already have heart and blood vessel problems, you should use lower temperatures and shorter sauna times. For the hot-cold effect, cooling down in water at about 20 degrees Celsius is enough in this case.
Relaxation is also very important. Good sleep of seven to nine hours per night greatly lowers the risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. If you can’t get enough sleep during the week, here’s good news: you can catch up on sleep on the weekend. A study from the European Congress of Cardiologists 2024 shows that just sleeping in well on the weekend reduces the risk of heart and blood vessel diseases by about 20 percent.
We already saw that stress is a risk factor for blood flow. Deep breathing is a simple way to be more mindful. If you purposely breathe in slowly through your nose, hold it for a moment, and then slowly breathe out through your mouth, you can feel calmer in just a few minutes. This method lowers blood pressure. You can use it anywhere – at the office, while traveling, or at home. It helps with your general well-being.
To sum up: eating well, exercising, getting enough sleep, and reducing stress can slow down the stiffening of blood vessels that happens with age. They can prevent atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). This can greatly lower the risk of heart and blood vessel diseases.
Conclusion
Heart and blood vessel diseases are the biggest problem on the way to a long, healthy life. So, if you want to get old, you should pay close attention to the things that help your body’s circulation system. These are your heart, lungs, and blood vessels.
In short, this means: Avoid things that put you at risk. These include stress, not enough exercise, being overweight, smoking, and unhealthy, highly processed foods. Instead, if you are mindful about what you eat, get lots of exercise and sleep, and relax, you will make your heart and blood vessels strong. This creates a good foundation for a lively life. The HAB formula 60-6-120 can help you check how well your body’s blood flows.
Source: https://www.blinkist.com/https://www.blinkist.com/de/books/die-altersformel-de