From big mick to fit mick: clean bill of health

By Mike Ashworth | October 29, 2009

The other week I was in the gym and the owner Sol Gilbert offered me a free check up with ZT Life. This check up covers blood pressure, resting pulse rate, cholesterol levels etc.

I took Sol up on his offer, and a couple of days ago, made an appointment to see Jane at ZT Life after one of my gym sessions.

I am very happy with the results and confirm my belief that within this slightly squidgy exterior is a fit person about to emerge.

Blood Pressure

116 over 66.

Earlier in 2009 this figure was 134 over 71.

The blood pressure numbers are something we see in episodes of casualty and ER yet they are not understood by many. So here is what they mean.

Put simply, blood pressure is the pressure of blood in your arteries. Your heart is your body’s main pump and it pushes blood through your arteries by contracting and relaxing.

When it contracts, it forces blood through your arteries and pushes the pressure of the blood to the highest point – the systolic pressure. When your heart relaxes between beats, your blood pressure is at its lowest – its diasystolic pressure.

The two pressures are written as two numbers, with the higher pressure first. So, if your blood pressure reads 120/80 mmHg (millimetres of mercury), this means your systolic – or upper – pressure is 120, and your diasystolic – or lower – pressure is 80.

Ideally, your blood pressure show be below 140/85 but if you’ve had a heart attack, stroke, have diabetes or diagnosed with coronary heart disease, your blood pressure should be below 130/80.

In addition, high blood pressure is an important risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. This is very important to me from a personal perspective as my father died from Alzheimers.

Resting pulse

A normal pulse rate for a healthy adult, while resting, can range from 60 to 80 beats per minute (BPM), although well-conditioned athletes may have a healthy pulse rate lower than 60 BPM (Lance Armstrong for instance has a resting pulse of 32).

Total Cholesterol

3.81

Earlier in 2009 this figure was 4.4. My target is 3.0.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and Department of Health cholesterol guidelines, which is the policy doctors follow states that total cholesterol should be less than 5.0

HDL (good cholesterol)

0.99

This is near as damn it to the recommend level of 1.0. My target is 1.50

Glucose

3.2

Earlier in 2009 this figure was 5.7.

This value is OK and no changes required. A figure in excess of 11.0 would indicate that the individual has or is likely to have Diabetes.

This figure is the random glucose value as I did not fast before being measured.