Ready to jump start your health in 2016?  Local docs at American Family Care map out five ways to test your health at home.    

By Nancy Bostrom

5 Ways to Test Your Health at Home:

• Plank it Up!  Get into push-up position on the floor.   Now, bend your elbows 90 degrees and rest your weight on your forearms. Your elbows should be directly beneath your shoulders, and your body should form a straight line from your head to your feet.  If you can’t hold this plank position for 2 minutes, AFC doctors warn it could mean you are carrying too much weight.   The physicians say improving your core is important for your overall movement stability and strength.
• Sit, Rise, Stand: Based on Brazilian research, this test examines how well you get up from a seated position on the floor.  Sit down, try to get up without using your hands or knees. The idea is to use as few body parts, as possible, to get up, testing your strength, balance and flexibility.
• Bad Breath Barometer:  Bad breath can turn into more than just an awkward situation; halitosis could be a sign of a serious health problem.  AFC doctors say to scrape your tongue with a spoon. Put the spoon in a plastic bag, close it and smell it.   A fruity odor can point to diabetes, a fishy smell may indicate kidney failure, and a sour mouth could be tied to sleep apnea.
• Test of Time:  How sharp is your mind? Swedish researchers developed a clock drawing test to screen for cognitive development and dementia. Simply start with a blank piece of paper, draw a clock, put in all the numbers and set hands for 10 and 11.  This test taps into a range of cognitive abilities and can set off a signal if impairment is developed or developing.
• Track your pulse: How strong is your heart rate? Did you know a weak pulse could not only be a sign of heart disease but a blood clot in your arm or leg?
  1. Place 2 fingers, not using your thumb, on your wrist, and press lightly until you feel a pulse.
  2. Using a watch or clock, make note of how many heartbeats you feel in 15 seconds. Your pulse = (total beats in 15 seconds) X 4 = (your heart rate).    A normal resting heart rate ranges from 60 to 100 beats a minute.
  3. Why do it?  To see how well your heart is working. In an emergency situation, a pulse rate can help determine if your heart is pumping enough blood.  Check for blood flow and get a gauge on your general health and fitness level.

Courtesy of Clark’s Nutrition

Five hundred years ago, the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon became fascinated with sailing, impressed by the circumnavigating exploits of Christopher Columbus. While Ponce de Leon established himself as an adroit farmer and landowner in the New World, he is perhaps most ubiquitously known for his quest to discover the mystical ‘Fountain of Youth’. The Fountain was believed to impart vigor and longevity to anyone who imbibed from its crystal-clear waters. In fact, the rejuvenative powers of undiscovered bodies of water date back at least an extra two millennia when Alexander the Great went in search of the mystical ‘River of Death’. Yet luckily, common sense has kicked in and the search for health and longevity has turned into an investigation into how treating our bodies better, and creating strong social structures, can produce almost magical outcomes.

Researchers from the University of California, Riverside, followed subjects for 20 years to examine life choices that might influence longevity. One of the most significant findings was that individuals who avoid stress and work tend to live shorter lives. Being productive and dealing with stress directly and determinately is the best method to increase self-worth and efficiency. The best method to support these endeavors is to remain properly hydrated. Chronic dehydration, at levels of just 1% (think four glasses behind where you should be) can lessen our abilities to perform well cognitively and socially. This could translate to lower scores on tests and performance in the workplace or to a decline in creative pursuits, or in our ability to regulate mood, memory and relationships. In addition to these task-oriented and socio-cognitive aspects regarding hydration, there are certain physiological conditions that require constant hydration. Hydrated muscles perform more work, in a shorter amount of time, in a wider variety of settings, and among a broader set of tasks. Similar to muscles, bowels must remain properly hydrated to perform their tasks, i.e., sustaining the diverse microbiome that helps us to process foods, eliminate wastes, and protect against outside threats. In fact, all body systems require proper hydration to ensure their functions are performed in a manner (and rate) that is conducive to health and resistant to disease.

If aging can be conceptually distilled into how well we replicate proteins, free from the ravages of free-radical damage and replication errors, then on some level, providing the aqueous medium sufficient to maintain a healthy and organized system is our responsibility alone. Aging is usually represented by a curvilinear (bent line) continuum wherein the relatively healthy years (represented by the straight segment) starts to curve upward around age 50 and rises precipitously thereafter. This line, and the point where life curves into declining health, is not intrinsically predetermined; rather, it relies tremendously on individual effort or lack thereof. It is possible, via concerted individual and community efforts, to remove the curve from the line and live life straight on. To do so requires vigilance and a mindful approach to healthful pursuits, primary among them being hydration.

To this end, it is imperative to drink pure water daily and include high-water-containing fruits and vegetables, and may even be necessary to avoid caffeinated and carbonated drinks in the pursuit of metabolically-advantageous hydration levels. Finally, in place of looking for bodies of water, and their illusory promise of longevity, we should look at the water in our own bodies, and their demonstrated effects on quality and quantity of life.

C Doussett MPH, RDN