Most people assume heart disease starts creeping in during middle age, somewhere between the first gray hair and the second mortgage. New research says the first signs appear much earlier, around age 17.
A 2025 analysis found that heart health begins to decline in late adolescence. By that age, measurable changes in blood pressure, blood sugar, and body mass index are already visible. Those subtle shifts, researchers say, can predict who will face cardiovascular issues decades later.
“Heart health doesn’t suddenly collapse at 50,” said study co-author Amanda Marma Perak, a cardiologist at Northwestern University. “It starts to deteriorate gradually, often decades earlier.”
Scientists Reveal the Age When Heart Health Really Starts to Decline
That early slide connects to how people live between 18 and 25, a period researchers call emerging adulthood. Sleep drops, fast food replaces real meals, and nicotine use climbs. Only about one in four young adults maintains habits that support cardiovascular health during this stage, according to the AHA.
Health data show that rates of heart disease in people under 40 have more than doubled since 2010 and tripled among those who use tobacco. Obesity is another major issue. One in five people under 25 already meet the BMI threshold for obesity, and nearly three in five are projected to reach it by 35. Meanwhile, most young adults underestimate their risk. In fact, fewer than half recognize that high blood pressure or inactivity can even cause heart disease later in life.
Years before the chest pains or fatigue, the groundwork is already being laid. Every energy drink, skipped meal, and sleepless night feeds a pattern the body learns to accept. Over time, that survival mode takes its toll. The body can keep up for a while, then begins to show the cost in ways most people never connect to their twenties.
Preventive care could start to rewrite that story, but it’s not exactly a priority for most young people. Even with policies that let people stay on their parents’ insurance until 26, very few are actually getting regular check-ups.
Researchers emphasize that consistent habits—moving for at least twenty minutes a day, getting seven hours of sleep, and eating fruits, fish, and vegetables—can steer the body toward lasting stability. Heart health, they say, is written long before anyone feels their heart skip a beat or a pain in their chest.
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