Longevity Starts Here: Building Heart and Metabolic Health That Lasts

Why Heart and Metabolic Health Matter

Heart and metabolic health are key to living a long and healthy life. But what do they actually mean?

Heart Health

This refers to how well our heart and blood vessels are working. A healthy heart:

• Pumps blood easily around your body
• Keeps our blood pressure in a safe range
• Has healthy cholesterol levels (low “bad” cholesterol, high “good” cholesterol)
• Has clear, unblocked arteries

Good heart health reduces our risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other heart or blood vessel issues.

Metabolic Health

Metabolic health is about how our body turns food into energy and keeps our blood sugar, fat, and weight in a healthy range.

A healthy metabolism:

• Keeps our blood sugar steady
• Responds well to insulin
• Maintains a healthy weight and waist size
• Keeps our cholesterol and fat levels balanced

When our metabolism works well, we have more energy, feel better, and lower our risk of conditions like type 2 diabetes and obesity.

What Supports Good Heart and Metabolic Health?

1. Healthy Blood Pressure

Keeping our blood pressure in a normal range helps our heart pump efficiently and protects our arteries from damage.

2. Balanced Cholesterol Levels

Having low LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and high HDL (“good”) cholesterol keeps our arteries clear and blood flowing smoothly.

3. Not Smoking

Staying away from smoking protects our blood vessels, keeps oxygen flowing properly, and greatly reduces our risk of heart disease.

4. Heart-Healthy Diet

Eat more:

• Fruits and vegetables
• Whole grains
• Lean proteins
• Healthy fats (like olive oil, nuts and omega-3s)

These dietary options may support our body’s natural response to inflammation, and maintain healthy levels of blood pressure and cholesterol.

When diet alone isn’t enough, consider vitamins or supplements supported by strong body of scientific evidence.

5. Regular Physical Activity

Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. Benefits include:

• Stronger heart
• Better circulation
• Improved blood sugar, weight control, and stress management

What counts as light, moderate, or vigorous exercise?

Intensity	Examples
Light	Easy walking, light stretching, household chores (like making the bed or doing dishes)
Moderate	Brisk walking, biking on flat ground, water aerobics, mowing the lawn, dancing
Vigorous	Running or jogging, swimming laps, biking uphill or fast, HIIT (high-intensity interval training), aerobic dancing

Choose activities we enjoy—it all helps!

6. Healthy Weight

Keeping our weight in a healthy range—and reducing belly fat—supports metabolic balance and eases strain on the heart.

7. Stable Blood Sugar

Keeping our blood sugar levels steady helps support our blood vessels and heart function.

It may also help reduce the risk of heart complications related to diabetes.

8. Limited Alcohol Use

Drinking little to no alcohol helps keep our blood pressure, triglycerides, and heart rhythm in a healthy range.

9. Managing our Stress

Activities like deep breathing, meditation, nature walks, or yoga can lower stress and support heart health.

10. Quality Sleep

In general, adults need at least 7 hours of sleep per night:[1],[2]

• Adults 18–64: 7–9 hours
• Adults 65+: 7–8 hours

Good sleep supports heart rhythm, blood pressure, metabolism, and overall health.

11. Family History Awareness

Understanding our genetic risk can help us take preventive steps like regular check-ups and healthy lifestyle changes.

12. Being Socially Engaged

Strong social ties are linked to better heart health and lower stress.[3]

13. Balanced Hormones

Treat conditions like thyroid issues, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), or menopause through proper care to support energy, metabolism, and heart health.

AHA Life’s Essential 8: Our Heart’s Best Friends[4]

The American Heart Association (AHA) created Life’s Essential 8 to help people live longer, healthier lives.

These 8 key measures are based on decades of solid research and expert advice.

They focus on everyday habits – like how we eat, sleep, move, and manage stress - that can help prevent heart disease, stroke, and other chronic conditions.

Why does it matter?

Because the AHA chose these 8 for a reason: they’re backed by a mountain of evidence.

So for us health-craving individuals, these are the steps worth focusing on.

Life’s Essential 8: A Blueprint for Heart and Metabolic Health

What supports good heart and/or metabolic health?	AHA Life’s Essential 8	Can we take actions to influence it?
Healthy blood pressure🌡️	✓	Yes!
Balanced cholesterol levels🩺	✓	Yes!
No smoking🚭	✓	Yes!
Heart-healthy diet🍎	✓	Yes!
Regular physical activity🏃♂️	✓	Yes!
Healthy weight⚖️	✓	Yes!
Stable blood sugar📊	✓	Yes!
Limited alcohol use🍷		Yes!
Managing our stress😌		Yes!
Quality sleep😴	✓	Yes!
Family history awareness👨👩👧		Yes!
Being socially engaged🤝		Yes!
Balanced hormones⚡		Yes!

AHA: American Heart Association

Things We Can't Control - But Should Know About

Some factors that affect heart and metabolic health are out of our hands, but being aware of them can help us stay informed and proactive:

• Family history: If heart disease runs in your family, your risk may be higher.
• Age: The risk of heart problems goes up as we get older.
• Biological sex: Men typically face higher risk earlier in life; after menopause, women’s risk increases.
• Race and ethnicity: Some groups - like African Americans, Hispanics, South Asians, and Indigenous populations - face a higher risk due to a mix of genetics, environment, and social factors.

It’s easy to worry about things we can’t control—but it’s more helpful to focus on what we can do.

Small lifestyle changes - like moving more, eating well, and getting enough sleep - can make a big difference for your heart and metabolic health. Let’s put our energy where it counts!

How to Measure Heart Health

"I don’t smoke. I eat pretty well. I get more than 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. That should mean my heart is healthy… right?"

Not necessarily.

While these are great habits that support heart health, just doing them doesn’t guarantee everything’s working perfectly on the inside.

So how do you really know how your heart is doing?

Do you wait until something goes wrong—like a heart attack? That’s a wake-up call, but by then, it could be too late.

We recommend using metrics from the novel AHA PREVENT Calculator (see Table below), developed based on data from over 6 million people, to track how heart-healthy we are.[5]

Metric	Can we attempt to control this?	Additional notes or recommendations	Healthy range for adults*
Biological sex	No		Thanks, ancestors. Guess we’re rolling with it!
Age	No
Total cholesterol (TC)**	Yes!	Get your cholesterol checked regularly.   Total cholesterol is made up of key parts - especially LDL (bad) and HDL (good) cholesterol.   Keep each of these in a healthy range.	[TC] Optimal: <150 mg/dL; desirable: <200 mg/dL[6]   [LDL] Healthy folks: <100 mg/dL; High-risk folks with certain heart or metabolic conditions: <70 mg/dL[7]   [HDL] Men: ≥40mg/dL; women: ≥50mg/dL[8]
HDL cholesterol	Yes!
Systolic blood pressure (SBP)	Yes!	Check our blood pressure regularly – and aim to keep our systolic blood pressure (the top number) in a healthy range	<120 (mmHg)[9]
Body mass index (BMI) – a measure of weight	Yes!	BMI = our weight (kg) / square of height (m2)	18.5-25 (kg/m2)[10]
Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)	Yes!	A measure of kidney function	≥90 (mL/min/1.73 m²)[11]
Having diabetes (Yes/No)	Yes!	Try to keep our blood sugar in a healthy range - before a diagnosis of diabetes, and after.   Many health experts use HbA1c (also called A1c or glycated hemoglobin) as a key marker for long-term blood sugar control.	HbA1C: <5.7%
Currently smoking (Yes/No)	Yes!		No smoking: Clear lungs, calm heart, can’t lose!
Use of anti-hypertensive medications (Yes/No)	Yes!	Try to keep our blood pressure and cholesterol levels in a healthy range - both before and after medication is needed.   If we are taking medications, be sure to follow our healthcare providers’ instructions carefully.   And no matter what, keep up those healthy lifestyle habits – they really do make a difference.	Does not apply here
Use of lipid-lowering medications (Yes/No)	Yes!		Does not apply here

*Based on the US population. Target may differ by country, region or personal healthy history

**Our TC = LDL+HDL+ Very-Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL, estimated as 0.2 x (triglyceride [TG] level))[12]

In summary, to support good heart health, it’s important to keep an eye on key health numbers—like cholesterol (total, LDL, and HDL), blood pressure (especially systolic), body weight (BMI), kidney function (eGFR), and blood sugar (HbA1c).

We can track these during our annual checkup and take steps to stay within healthy ranges through lifestyle choices and, if needed, medical guidance.

How to Measure Metabolic Health?

Good metabolic health supports overall wellness, including the health of the heart, liver, kidneys and brain.

Track these AHA-backed evidence-based metrics:[13]

Metric	Can we attempt to control this?	Additional notes or instructions	Healthy range for adults*
Waist circumference	Yes!	Check our health numbers regularly – we want to see healthy levels across the board.   When it comes to blood sugar, fasting blood glucose (FBG) is another important measure. While HbA1c shows your average levels over a few months, FBG gives a snapshot of your blood sugar at a single point in time -usually after fasting.	Men: ≤40 inches; Women: ≤35 inches
TG	Yes!		<150mg/dL
HDL cholesterol	Yes!		Men: ≥40mg/dL; Women: ≥50mg/dL8
Blood pressure	Yes!		SBP: <120 mmHg (SBP); diastolic [DBP]: <80 mmHg
Fasting blood glucose (FBG)	Yes!		<100 mg/dL

 

In summary, to support good metabolic health, it’s important to keep an eye on key health numbers - like lipid/cholesterol (TG, HDL), abdominal fat (waist circumference), blood pressure (SBP & DBP), and blood sugar levels (FBG).

We can check these during our annual physical. If any numbers are out of range, talk with our healthcare provider and take steps to bring them back to a healthy level through lifestyle changes or medical care.

Final words

As we’ve explored, heart and metabolic health are closely connected - and many of the same habits and health markers matter for both.

Whether we’re focused on our heart, our metabolism, or both, it helps to know our numbers and track key health metrics like cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, weight, and kidney function.

If you're interested in one area more than the other, you can focus on the specific metrics for that goal.

But for full-body health, combining both sets of measures gives you the most complete picture.

Stay informed, stay consistent, and take small steps toward better health. You've got this!

Wishing you good health,

Derek Tang, PhD, MS, BSPharm

Truth Full Health

Your Trusted Supplement Partner

*Disclaimer: all blogged content is for informational purposes only and does not replace professional medical advice.

[1] National Sleep Foundation. How Much Sleep Do You Really Need? October 1, 2020. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://www.thensf.org/how-many-hours-of-sleep-do-you-really-need/

[2] Title: Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: a joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. First author: NF Watson. Journal: Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Year of publication: 2015.

[3] American Heart Association News. Social isolation, loneliness can damage heart and brain health, report says. August 4, 2022. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://www.heart.org/en/news/2022/08/04/social-isolation-loneliness-can-damage-heart-and-brain-health-report-says

[4] American Heart Association. Life’s Essential 8 ™. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/lifes-essential-8

[5] American Heart Association. The American Heart Association PREVENT™ Online Calculator. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://professional.heart.org/en/guidelines-and-statements/prevent-calculator

[6] National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. ATP III Guidelines At-A-Glance: Quick Desk Reference. National Institutes of Health; 2001. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/guidelines/atglance.pdf

[7] American Heart Association. HDL (Good), LDL (Bad) Cholesterol and Triglycerides. Published April 2024. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol/hdl-good-ldl-bad-cholesterol-and-triglycerides

[8] MedlinePlus. HDL: The "Good" Cholesterol. Published February 21, 2024. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://medlineplus.gov/hdlthegoodcholesterol.html

[9] American Heart Association. Understanding Blood Pressure Readings. Last reviewed August 14, 2025. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/understanding-blood-pressure-readings

[10] American Heart Association. Body Mass Index in Adults. Published June 2023. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/losing-weight/bmi-in-adults

[11] National Kidney Foundation. Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR). Accessed October 19, 2025. https://www.kidney.org/kidney-topics/estimated-glomerular-filtration-rate-egfr

[12] American Heart Association. What Your Cholesterol Levels Mean. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol/about-cholesterol/what-your-cholesterol-levels-mean

[13] American Heart Association. Symptoms and Diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome. Last reviewed October 17, 2023. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/metabolic-syndrome/symptoms-and-diagnosis-of-metabolic-syndrome