How Your Heart and Eyes Might Be Connected

Heart Health and Vision: A Complex Link

The American Heart Association (AHA) has recently updated their guidelines for measuring heart health, introducing Life's Essential 8 (LE8). This set of rules aims to help people maintain a heart-healthy lifestyle. Meanwhile, diabetic retinopathy (DR), the leading cause of vision loss worldwide, is becoming increasingly common.

The Unknown Connection

However, the relationship between LE8 and DR remains unclear. Scientists are also exploring how age plays a role in this connection. Age isn't just about the number of years lived—it's also about how old your body feels and functions. This is where phenotypic age (PA) and biological age (BA) come into play, offering a better understanding of how well the body is aging.

Does Heart Health Improve Eyesight?

If you take care of your heart, does it help your eyes? Or does it simply make you feel younger? These are the questions researchers are trying to answer. They want to determine if maintaining heart health can also protect your eyesight—and if feeling younger makes a difference.

The Complexity of the Human Body

But it's not that simple. The body is intricate, and many factors can influence health. While LE8 may be a good starting point, it's not the complete picture. Age is just one piece of the puzzle, and there's still much to learn about how heart health and eye health are connected.

The Bigger Picture

In the end, it's clear that taking care of your heart is crucial. But it's also important to remember that health is about more than just one aspect—it's about how everything in your body works together. And that's what scientists are striving to understand.