Health and 5 critical numbers

In this article I am assuming that you are healthy. This means that you do not have health problems identified. Sleep well, eat normally and have no significant source of stress in your life. If these are true statements about yourself, the following information will be helpful to you.

The first issue, I think you need to know is your BMI. BMI stands for body mass index. It is a ratio of height and weight. You can calculate it with a formula or find an online calculator. I like the NHLBI calculator that you can easily find it by typing those letters into the Google search box. Is a government agency that doesn’t try to sell you something.

A second value that you should know is the blood pressure. This is important as abnormal blood pressure is asymptomatic-probably you won’t know you have. Is easily measured, but you should sit for 5 minutes to rest and have his arm supported when they took blood pressure measurements. Under 134/84 is normal, but that is a variable number. If you’re feeling OK, not too low but certainly can be too high. Do not rely on a read-only to tell you that the pressure is too high, but on a series of readings, always after resting with the arm supported.

A couple of blood tests tell you a lot of your potential problems. If you are over weight or obese may be abnormally high blood sugar or glucose levels. A normal fasting-no food for 8 hours-glucose level is above 60 and less than 105. From 105 to 119, the level is abnormal and indicates an abnormal response to insulin. Over 120 or more than 200 fast at any time, you have diabetes. Along with abnormal glucose is abnormal cholesterol. Total cholesterol is good under 190 and HDL cannot be too high but over 45 is good. LDL cholesterol is not measured but is calculated and must be low. How low is controversial, but less than 120 is good. I like to watch the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL. Simply divide the total cholesterol by the HDL number. If the result is less than 5, you’re in good shape generally. Another tool at the NHLBLI is a predictor of mortality by 10 years. Check it out if you know these numbers.

The latest issue as BMI you can get on your own. Measure your waist at the navel or belly button. If you are a man, must be less than 40 inches, much less actually. If you are a woman, in less than 36 inches. Multiply inches by 2.54 to get measurements in centimeters. Above these maximums and will many times that your cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and weight are all abnormally high. You will find that if you test your aerobic fitness-how far can you walk/run in 12 minutes-is also poor.