It’s a question that has long been portrayed in films, asked in self-help novels, and published in scientific journals: How do you stop the effects of aging and live a longer life?
Aging is an inevitable part of life, but one that has people running the other way in fear. Often linked to physical and mental decline, not to mention an increased risk of developing a chronic condition, every additional wrinkle, forgotten item, and misstep feels like a death sentence.
How do you differentiate the usual signs of aging wisdom from a symptom of a chronic condition?
Follow along as we help you identify age-related diseases, the signs of aging you shouldn’t ignore, and how a whole-body MRI scan can help give you a new lease on life.
What to Expect with… The Cardiovascular System
Your heart is the primary component of your health, and one of the main areas that sees change as you grow older. As you age, your blood vessels and arteries begin to harden, making your heart work harder to pump blood through your body. In turn, your heart muscles start to change to adjust to the added workload.
And this is where problems can start to arise.
According to the National Council on Aging, about 16% of adults aged 65 and older live with heart disease. This condition occurs when the heart cannot supply enough oxygen and blood to all of the body’s organs. Underlying conditions can contribute to heart disease, such as hypertension and high cholesterol, and can prove fatal if left untreated.
Call 911 immediately, do not wait and do not drive yourself
Call 911 if you or someone near you has any of these:
- Chest discomfort: pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the centre of the chest lasting more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back
- Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach
- Shortness of breath, with or without chest discomfort
- Breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, or lightheadedness
- Sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg, especially on one side; sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or trouble seeing or walking
The American Heart Association advises calling 911 for any heart attack symptom, because it is almost always the fastest route to treatment. Even if you are not sure, get checked. Minutes matter. A screening MRI is not an emergency test. If you are having these symptoms, call 911, not us.
Symptoms are not identical in women and men, and the difference costs lives through delay. Chest discomfort is still the most common heart attack symptom in women, but women are more likely to also have shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, an upset stomach, unusual tiredness, anxiety, or pain in the shoulder, back, arm or jaw. Because those are easy to mistake for flu or exhaustion, women more often wait. The instruction is the same for everyone.
What to Expect with… Your Muscles and Joints
It’s natural as you age for your muscles and joints not to work exactly like they used to. With age, bones tend to shrink in size and density, resulting in a loss of strength and flexibility. Unfortunately, this natural progression can result in one of the most common age-related diseases: arthritis.
About 51 percent of adults aged 65 and older live with arthritis. It is not a single disease but an umbrella term for more than 100 conditions affecting the joints. The most common form in older adults is osteoarthritis, in which the cartilage cushioning a joint gradually wears down. Inflammatory forms such as rheumatoid arthritis are less common and managed very differently, which is why a specific diagnosis matters. Separately, bones can lose density faster than the body rebuilds them, a condition called osteoporosis.
Symptoms of Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis
Symptoms of osteoarthritis develop slowly over time but can eventually lead to chronic pain if left untreated. Common symptoms may include:
- Pain
- Joint stiffness and tenderness
- Loss of flexibility
- Swelling
- Grating sensation
Symptoms of osteoporosis often don’t make themselves known until later stages, often indicated by the following signs and symptoms:
- Back pain
- Gradual loss of height
- A stooped posture
- Bones that break easily
What to Expect with… Your Memory
Just as your cardiovascular system changes, so does your brain. As you age, forgetting certain words or misplacing your keys once or twice is common – the issue lies when it is in conjunction with other memory issues or challenges.
Alzheimer’s is a brain disease that causes a slow decline in your memory, thinking, and reasoning skills, and is the most common cause of dementia.
One of the most common – and noticeable – signs of Alzheimer’s disease is forgetting recent information. For example, forgetting an important event or asking the same questions repeatedly could be an early sign of the brain condition.
Other signs of Alzheimer’s may include:
- Challenges in problem-solving
- Difficulty completing daily tasks
- Vision changes
- Difficulties following or joining conversations
- Misplacing items
- Poor judgement
- Personality changes
Osteoporosis: The Right Test Is Not an MRI
Osteoporosis is usually silent until something breaks. Warning signs worth raising with your doctor include losing height, a stooping posture, back pain without obvious cause, or a bone breaking more easily than you would expect.
The test for it is a DXA scan, a short low-dose bone density scan of the hip and spine. It is the standard because it measures bone mineral density directly. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends DXA screening for all women aged 65 and older, and for postmenopausal women under 65 at increased fracture risk. For men the Task Force found the evidence insufficient, so that is a conversation with your doctor.
To be clear about our own service: an MRI produces excellent images of soft tissue, cartilage and bone marrow. It does not measure bone mineral density, so it cannot diagnose osteoporosis and is not a substitute for a DXA scan. If you are due for bone density screening, ask your doctor for a DXA.
What a Whole-Body MRI Can and Cannot Show as You Age
MRI uses magnetic fields and radio waves, no ionizing radiation, to produce detailed images of soft tissue. Here is an honest account.
What it can show: structural abnormalities in solid organs such as masses, cysts and lesions in the liver, kidneys, pancreas, spleen, adrenal glands and reproductive organs; joint and spine changes including cartilage loss, disc degeneration and effusions; soft tissue findings such as tears and masses; structural findings in the brain including evidence of a previous silent stroke, an aneurysm, a tumour or excess fluid; and vascular findings such as an aortic aneurysm.
What it cannot do. It cannot diagnose Alzheimer’s disease or any other dementia. An MRI can show that parts of the brain have shrunk, but as the National Institute on Aging states, that evidence cannot indicate a specific diagnosis. Some atrophy and white matter change is expected with normal ageing, and no brain scan tells you whether you will develop dementia. It cannot diagnose osteoporosis, which needs a DXA. It cannot confirm anything is cancer, which needs tissue. And because our scan uses no contrast dye, some findings, particularly in the liver and pancreas, may need a follow-up study with contrast to characterise properly.
What it does not replace. Continue with mammography, colorectal screening, cervical screening, lung cancer screening if you are eligible, and DXA as your doctor advises.
If Brain Health Is the Worry, Here Is What Actually Helps
The 2024 Lancet Commission identified 14 modifiable risk factors, including hearing loss, untreated vision loss, high LDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, physical inactivity and social isolation, and estimated that addressing them could prevent or delay around 45 percent of dementia cases worldwide. Those deserve more of your attention than a scan does, and several are things you can act on this month.
Ageing Well, With Clear Expectations
Whole-body imaging often turns up incidental findings that are ultimately harmless but require follow-up to resolve, and that follow-up carries its own cost, time and worry. We think you should weigh that going in, and we are happy to talk it through before you book.
If you want a broad structural look alongside the screenings your doctor already recommends, schedule an appointment at our Charleston centre or call our team first.
This article is for general education and is not medical advice. If you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, call 911.
Frequently asked questions
What signs of aging should I not ignore?
Some are emergencies and some are conversations. Call 911 for chest pressure lasting more than a few minutes, pain in the arms, back, neck or jaw, shortness of breath, cold sweat with nausea, or sudden one-sided numbness, weakness, confusion or trouble speaking. Book a doctor appointment for losing height or a stooping posture, unexplained back pain, joint pain and stiffness that is getting worse, leg cramping on walking that eases with rest, or memory changes beyond occasionally misplacing keys.
How common are heart disease and arthritis in older adults?
About 16 percent of adults aged 65 and older live with heart disease, and about 51 percent live with arthritis, based on CDC surveillance data from 2023. Arthritis is an umbrella term for more than 100 conditions; the most common in older adults is osteoarthritis, where joint cartilage gradually wears down.
How is osteoporosis diagnosed?
With a DXA scan, a short low-dose bone density scan of the hip and spine that measures bone mineral density directly. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends it for all women 65 and older, and for postmenopausal women under 65 at increased fracture risk. An MRI does not measure bone density and cannot diagnose osteoporosis.
Can an MRI detect early Alzheimer’s?
No. An MRI can show that parts of the brain have shrunk, but the National Institute on Aging is explicit that such evidence cannot indicate a specific diagnosis. Some atrophy and white matter change is expected with normal ageing, and no brain scan can tell you whether you will develop dementia. Diagnosis requires clinical assessment, cognitive testing and biomarkers.
What actually reduces dementia risk?
The 2024 Lancet Commission identified 14 modifiable risk factors and estimated that addressing them could prevent or delay around 45 percent of dementia cases worldwide: hearing loss, untreated vision loss, high LDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, smoking, excessive alcohol, physical inactivity, social isolation, depression, head injury, air pollution and limited education. Several are actionable immediately.
Sources
- Trends in Multiple Chronic Conditions Among US Adults, By Life Stage, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2013-2023
- Warning Signs of a Heart Attack
- Osteoporosis to Prevent Fractures: Screening
- How Biomarkers Help Diagnose Dementia
- Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission
