Know your numbers!

Morning bloggers!

A long time ago, at the start of this project, I promised that I would never just throw a bunch of numbers at you like tons of prevention brochures do. I’ve never felt more overwhelmed than when I was reading through the paperwork the hospital sent home with my dad after he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. There were words on that page I’ve never even heard of, and I’m in science- we use tons of crazy words every day. They were throwing tons of strange words, numbers, and rules rules rules!

To save you from this stress, I’ve put together a rundown of common words and numbers you’ll encounter if you’re talking to your doctor about cardiovascular disease.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a substance that you obtain from eating, and your body actually manufactures some cholesterol because your cells need it to keep their structure. Too much cholesterol is a bad thing because, as we’ve discussed before, cholesterol is one of those substances that sticks to your artery walls to form plaque. Cholesterol doesn’t dissolve in the blood stream. Cholesterol is carried by lipoproteins in the blood, so your blood concentration of lipoprotein is what is actually measured when you have a cholesterol check. A cholesterol check is done through a simple blood test. There are two types, LDL and HDL.

LDL (low-density lipoprotein) is the “bad” cholesterol. This is the type of cholesterol that will stick to your artery walls. You want your LDL level to be less than 100 mg/dL (mg/dL means milligrams of cholesterol in one deciliter of blood).

HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is the “good” cholesterol. HDL makes up about a quarter of your cholesterol. Experts think that HDL may actually carry cholesterol away from the arteries, so this is known as the “good” type of cholesterol. You want your HDL level to be higher than your LDL level. You want your HDL level to be greater than 60 mg/dL.

Total cholesterol: Your total cholesterol level should be less than 200 mg/dL. This number includes your HDL, LDL, and triglyceride levels. Triglycerides are another type of fat that may be found in your blood. Excess calories will be converted to triglycerides and stored as this type of fat.

Blood Pressure

Your blood is taken with a blood pressure cuff that get tight around your upper arm, and then your doctor or nurse will let the air out of the cuff as he or she listens to your pulse in the crook of your arm. This number will come in a ratio- systolic over diastolic, and in the unit mmHg, or milliliters of mercury, which is just a measure of pressure. Your blood pressure is actually a measure of the pressure exerted by blood on the walls of your vessels. The systolic pressure is the maximum pressure, and the diastolic is the minimum pressure exerted on the walls. This number should be somewhere around 120/80 mmHg.

Glucose

Glucose is a type of sugar that circulates in your blood and gives you energy. If you are having your glucose checked, which is done by a simple blood test, it will likely be a fasting glucose test. This means that you will not eat anything overnight and they will draw your blood and test it in the morning. This is done to test the amount of glucose naturally circulating in your blood without any being there as a result of eating something. When you eat something, your glucose levels will increase. Your normal fasting glucose level should be less than 100 mg/dL.

BMI

BMI stands for body mass index, which is just a ratio of your weight to your height through a crazy formula that I have no idea who/what came up with. The number is basically used to determine how far under or over you stray from the normal weight for the height of your body. Take this one with a grain of salt because this number does not account for muscularity, a large body frame, and several other factors. See the chart for your BMI. “Normal” is usually between 18 and 25.

Body fat percentage

This is a measurement of, quite literally, the percentage of your body that is made up of fat. If you weigh 150 pounds, and you are 20% fat, that means that 30 pounds of your body is made of fat, and 120 pounds is made of other stuff (organs, muscles, bones, etc.). Although this sounds like an enormous amount of fat, remember that your body needs some fat to make up your cell walls and to cushion your organs. Fat is also the main form of energy storage in your body. Normal for women is between 20 and 25%, and for men is 13 to 16%, but this varies with age. 

For more information, visit Go Red for Women!

 Something you might want to try at your next doctor's visit is bring in a little card that you can write down your numbers so you can keep track of where you are! You can pick up these cards at the Health Department or the Sidney Richland Public Library!

From my heart to yours,

Red in Richland County

P.S. A special thanks to the Boys & Girls Club, 1st Choice Collision, Sidney Herald, and Sidney Job Service for celebrating their Wear Red days yesterday! Keep checking back for more pictures!