Staying healthy in your peak earning years

As a baby boomer, you're probably making the best money of your career with little time for your health. But as you get older, your well-being gets more valuable. Money Magazine offers a few tips on how to take care of your aging self.

Maintain heart health
A health guide for boomers
Maintain heart health
As you age, you tend to have more bad cholesterol in your blood, which clogs arteries and raises your risk of stroke. Possible culprits include diet, lack of exercise and genetics.

The tests to get:
You should have your cholesterol tested starting at age 35 for men and 45 for women. Check at least every five years. Are you overweight? Do you smoke? Do you have a family history of heart disease? Begin testing as early as age 20. The cost: $35.

Have your blood pressure checked at least every two years. Anything over 140/90 is considered high.

What you can skip:
Unless you're at high risk for heart disease, you can do without an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a stress test and blood tests for C-reactive protein and homocysteine.

Four rules

Doctor visits

Your colon

Blood sugar

Depression

Weigh in

Heart health

Prostate cancer

Aorta check

Breast cancer

Osteoporosis
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.