My Resting Heart Rate Was 88 — That's When I Knew Something Was Wrong
The Tightness I Kept Calling "Stress" It started sometime in my early fifties. After a long day at the office and the inevitable dinner with clients — soju, grilled pork belly, more soju — I'd climb the subway stairs and feel it. A tightness across my chest, like someone had wrapped a belt around my ribs and pulled it one notch too tight. It lasted maybe thirty seconds. Then it was gone. So I did what most men my age do. I blamed it on stress. On the food. On being tired. I loosened my tie, took a deep breath, and kept walking. I did this for three years. Three years of ignoring a signal my body was sending every week, sometimes twice a week. I never told my wife. I never told my doctor. I just kept telling myself the same lie: "It's nothing. I'm fine." I was not fine. What's Actually Happening to Your Heart After 50 Here's what nobody explains to you in your forties: your heart is already changing. The walls of your arteries are ...