The Effect of Age on the Cardiovascular Response to Stress

The common perception is that as we age, our organs age with us, become less efficient, are less able to cope with stresses, and start to “fail”. The image of an old cardiovascular system is one of congestive cardiac failure, stiffened arteries and poor exercise tolerance. While the suffer arteries may be at least partly true, an eighty year old may have similar exercise tolerance to a fifty year old and be just as able to cope with cardiovascular stresses, albeit in different ways.