These methods are not a substitute for regular medical examinations, but it can evoke your vigilance on your health.
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Editor’s note: The BMI index was invented two hundred years ago, and its inventor is not even a doctor. There is a big problem with using it to judge health. In life, what we have to do is regular physical examination, and outside the physical examination, we can assess our health through the following six methods. This article is published on the Medium website, author Emily Underwood, original title Six Smart Ways to Assess Your Health That Have Nothing to Do With BMI.
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BMI was invented 200 years ago by Belgian astronomer and mathematician Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet. He is not a doctor. Although BMI (Body Mass Index) is widely used, if it is used to assess body weight and overall health of patients, there is a big problem.
First, this number is obtained by dividing the weight (kg) by the square of the height (m), which does not explain the quality of your bones or muscles. Secondly, the concept behind this index is also somewhat ambiguous. For example, high BMI (especially the system considers “obesity” or “severe obesity”) means poor health, but in fact, many BMI indexes are low. People are also unhealthy. For example, people with a BMI index in the “normal” range may have diabetes or heart disease, and many people with high BMI indexes can live healthy and longevity.
Although overweight increases the risk of people suffering from chronic diseases, more and more scientists believe that BMI is not a good way to judge a person’s health. Some people go one step further and emphasize that the widespread use of BMI causes serious harm to the body, because BMI classifies some healthy but not very slim people as unhealthy.
Partial questionsThe overall health situation is large and complex. To fully grasp the health status, it is almost impossible to do it by a single test or test. Still, there are many better ways to get an overall health status than BMI. Here are six test methods that don’t require a doctor. You can do it yourself.
Sleep test
Sleep is the key to almost all physiological processes. Sleep has immune function and can also remove waste from the brain and protect healthy metabolism.
Despite this, about one-third of American adults fail to meet the scientifically recommended 7-hour sleep time per night. Just a good night’s sleep, people’s blood pressure will temporarily rise. More than a dozen studies have shown that lack of sleep is associated with heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases. In three large epidemiological studies, the researchers found that people who slept less than 5 hours a night had an increase in mortality of about 15% due to various causes.
Breath test
Sitting too long every day, lack of adequate aerobic exercise, smoking… will weaken our lungs’ ability to expand and use oxygen.
There is a simple test that can help you determine if your lungs are in good condition: run two flights of stairs or walk six blocks. With a good lung, you should be able to stop and not breathe.
Sit up and test
Sitting up and testing by doctor and researcher Claudio Gil Araujo, this somewhat difficult strength and flexibility test effectively predicts human life.
First, stand upright, cross your legs, and then lower your sitting position on the floor until you sit cross-legged; then stand up slowly. Do not help anything during the completion of these two movements, and try not to support your body with your hands, knees, forearms, sides or legs.
If you can finish this test perfectly, you will get 10 points. If you have other parts of the body that support you to get up, you need to deduct points.
Araujo found that among adults over the age of 50, the lowest-scoring person (0-3 points) is likely to die about 5-10 times in the next 6 years or so. .
Observe your poop
Observing your poop sounds disgusting, but regular, well-shaped stools are an important manifestation of health. About 16% of Americans suffer from constipation, and constipation is not only uncomfortable, but also potentially dangerous. Observing your stool is the key to identifying colon cancer. In the United States, the incidence of colon cancer is rising.
Bristo’s stool classification.
This chart is called “Bristo’s stool classification”, you can judge whether your bowel movements are healthy (the fourth is the healthiest).
Assess your loneliness
We are overly concerned about the dangers that obesity can bring, and that means we ignore the real problem – social loneliness, and social loneliness may be more deadly. A 2013 study of the elderly found that loneliness is positively correlated with mortality, which is as fatal as smoking and twice as fat. It is a terrible thing to know that since the 1980s, the proportion of American adults who have felt lonely has doubled.
The fight against loneliness does not require you to be full of arrangements every day, nor does it mean that you must have a scientific and reasonable number of friends. The most important thing is to perceive and assess the feeling of loneliness: the feeling of being isolated, the feeling of being neglected, the feeling of being ununderstood, and the feeling of being unable to communicate.
To assess this feeling, the researchers designed a series of questionnaires, including the UCLA Loneliness Index and the UC Berkeley quiz on social capital. Evaluate your sense of loneliness. If you are more lonely than you think, then you should consider expanding your social network.
Do a depression test
The researchers believe that depression is as harmful to health as at least as much as obesity. Depression is often accompanied by other health-damaging factors, such as insomnia and drug abuse. The longer the depression is delayed, the more serious the long-term health effects.
The Kaiser online test can help you assess if you need to see a doctor.
Of course, these methods are not a substitute for regular medical examinations, but they can evoke your vigilance about your health and allow you to do better when you talk to your doctor about your condition.
If you feel that your performance is not good after completing these tests, you should pay attention. If you feel that you are connected to the world, you can enjoy happiness in your daily life, you sleep sweetly, breathe smoothly, your body is flexible, and you can pull out the perfect form of sputum, then no matter what your BMI is, your body is very health.
Translator: Xitang