Know Your Numbers

When you're older something happens and you're more interested in "the numbers". Things like, LDL, HDL, blood pressure...you know the drill.

I don't want to be like the older people who talk about nothing but what's wrong with them. Au contraire, I want to be one of those proactive baby boomers who research health issues on the internet and work with their doctors to take whatever action is necessary to stay healthy.

One of the ways to do this is to know your numbers. Here are mine taken last week:

Blood pressure - 117/69 (optimal is below 120/80)
Glucose (fasting) - 88 (norm is 60-110)
Cholosterol - 195 (optimal is below 200)
Triglyceride - 97 (normal is less than 150)
HDL - 58 (normal levels for women are 35-70)
LDL - 118( normal is 100-255
Vitamin D - 35 ( optimal levels is 20-60)

OK - Not bad but my cholosterol has been inching up every couple of years, so I'm going to start watching the saturated fat (I'm still going to have my Baskin Robbins ice cream tonight---but I'd better watch out for that stuff over time). The doctor said that I should take a vitamin D supplement so I'm doing that. I've never been much for the sun and only drink soy milk (and not much of that) so I'll augment with synthetic Vitamin D for now. I'll look into what I can add to my diet to replace the synthetic Vitamin D later.

Knowing the numbers is just the first step. I always compare the current numbers to what they were a year ago, and sometimes several years ago. I keep in mind that as you get older, some things just change, but if I see too much of a progression in the wrong direction, I come up for air and try to do something about it.

I know that if I don't address these issues, what starts out as a small thing could explode into a crisis. And, believe me....I don't want any trouble.

Are you happy with your numbers?