How would you rate your health? Since the pandemic started, many of us feel less healthy, with research showing that women have been more prone to stress- or comfort-eating than men during this time. If that sounds familiar, a quick home health check could be a potential lifesaver.
“Certain measurements and readings can give a clear perspective of your health and serve as benchmarks,” says pharmacist Abbas Kanani. “The numbers also help motivate people to take steps to try to improve it.”
Here are 8 vital health checks you can perform from the comfort of your home:
What it measures: Artery health.
How to do it: Lie on our back on a bed and elevate both (bare) legs to a 45-degree angle on cushions. Hold them there for one minute, then quickly hang your legs down over the side of the bed at 90 degrees.
Results: This checks for peripheral arterial disease, where the arteries that supply the leg muscles become furred up and can cause high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. If one or both of your feet or legs become very pale when elevated but take several minutes to return to their normal colour, or become bright red when hanging, you could have blocked arteries and need to see your doctor.
Artery boost: Try to be active for 30 minutes a day. Include avocado, broccoli, asparagus, chia seeds and oily fish in your diet, and drink green tea.
Age-related macular degeneration can cause you to lose central vision. Cover one eye, then the other while looking at a door frame. If there are gaps or kinks when it should be straight, see a GP or optometrist at once.
What it measures: Physical fitness
How to do it: You’ll need a stopwatch or a watch with a second hand. To find your pulse, put your middle and index finger on the inside of your wrist. Count how many beats you feel in 20 seconds, and multiply by three for your resting heart rate. Do this while lying in bed when you’re feeling most relaxed.
Results: A normal resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. However, some research indicates that a rate of 80 or above is worth tackling. The slower your resting heart rate, the more efficiently your heart is pumping blood around your body, and is an indicator of physical fitness (a marathon runner might have a pulse in the 50s).
See a GP if your resting pulse is over 100 or below 60 (unless you’re an athlete), or if it skips beats or doesn’t keep a regular rhythm.
Heart boost: You can lower your resting heart rate through exercise, reducing stress, stopping smoking and losing weight.
What it measures: Your risk of coronary heart disease, hypertension and diabetes.
How to do it: To measure your waist, find the narrowest area between your tummy button and the bottom of your sternum (breastbone). To measure your hips, stand so you can see your side view in a mirror and measure the widest part. Then divide waist measurement by hip measurement.
Results:
Less than 0.75 = ideal
0.75-0.8 = low risk
0.81-0.85 = moderate risk
Greater than 0.85 = high risk
Slimming boost: If your ratio is 0.81 or above, eat a balanced diet, avoiding processed foods, and build some squats and lunges into your workout.
What it measures: Lung/heart health
How to do it: Briskly run up two flights of stairs.
Results: If you can do this without pausing to rest, your lungs are in fairly good shape. If you experience extreme shortness of breath or have to stop, it’s a sign your lungs are suffering a degree of distress, due to either your lungs or heart.
Lung boost: Get active for 30 minutes each day to increase the efficiency of oxygen transportation and metabolism, and eat more salmon, avocado, oranges, carrots, pumpkins, blueberries, seeds and nuts.
What it measures: Longevity
How to do it: Carefully lower yourself from standing to sitting cross-legged on the floor. Then get back up. The maximum score is 10: five points for sitting and five for standing up. Lose a point every time you use a hand or knee for support, and half a point every time you wobble.
Results: “In a study of 51- to 80-year olds, those with the lowest score were five to six times more likely to die in the next six years than those with the highest,” says physiotherapist Sammy Margo.
Life boost: Don’t panic – just take it as a sign you need to make changes now, such as getting more active. Aim for 150 minutes of moderate to intense activity a week. And keep practising. It’s easier to get a higher score if you repeat regularly.
Hold out your hand, palm up, and push your fingers back. Your palm will pale, but if the deep lines go white too, this could be a sign of amaemia – most often triggered by a lack of iron in the diet, which causes a reduction in red blood cells. Ask your GP for a blood test.
What it measures: Flexibility
How to do it: Lie on the floor with your legs flat. Inhale and lift your arms above your head, then as you exhale, lower your arms and use your hands to lift your left leg up towards the ceiling, trying to keep your leg as straight as possible. Repeat on the other leg.
Results:
Raised leg half bent = needs work
Raised leg almost straight = average
Raised leg straight = excellent
Flexibility boost: Look on YouTube for yoga or Pilates classes to practise some poses.
Text: bauersyndication.com.au
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- health checks
- women's health