Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

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Stahlmann
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Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Stahlmann »

I heard there are a lot smart guys there.

Objective:
How can I check if my health condition is proper?
I mean I young. ,,I don't care".
How can I prevent longterm failure of this system (and the system of my purse)? :mrgreen:
Please, consider mental part too.

So I would personally choose:
- BMI
- proper pressure

How would you quantify good health?
Could you share your quotes for health insurance (and your conditions)?
Or maybe is it even not allowable? (EU guy here, don't be angry)

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C40
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by C40 »

None of these are a complete picture of health on their own, but they are all related to good health and can be useful to check regularly and review their progression over time:
- BMI, and more tellingly, actual bodyfat percentage
- Physical fitness measures (how quickly can you run 1 mile, how many pullups can you do, etc.)
- Blood pressure
- Cholesterol levels (particularly the balance between different types), triglyceride and blood sugar levels
- Your perceived level of energy (and how much they vary)


There are now a ton of more detailed checks you can have done on yourself. (I assume many of these get expensive(?))
- Many that more or less check your DNA for predisposition to cancers and other health issues
- Checking for vitamin or mineral deficiencies
- Checking for different ~toxins (for example, heavy metals)

Scott 2
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Scott 2 »

I like HRV as a spot check for how I am managing stress. It requires a $50 heart rate monitor, phone with Bluetooth, a free app, and about ten minutes a day.

Stress produces health problems. Having a metric that acts as a leading indicator is a great advantage in identifying acute lifestyle problems early.

Optimizing the single score can promote a wide variety of positive health behaviors.

James_0011
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by James_0011 »

Healthy and intelligent populations have been found to have body temperatures of around 98.6 degrees, and pulse rates of 85 bpm. If your pulse drops in the morning after you eat breakfast, you're sympathetic nervous system dominate meaning your not healthy. Someone with parasympathetic dominance will see an increase in pulse and temps after eating - and throughout the day peaking sometime in the afternoon.

Stahlmann
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Stahlmann »

James_0011 wrote:Healthy and intelligent populations have been found to have body temperatures of around 98.6 degrees, and pulse rates of 85 bpm. If your pulse drops in the morning after you eat breakfast, you're sympathetic nervous system dominate meaning your not healthy. Someone with parasympathetic dominance will see an increase in pulse and temps after eating - and throughout the day peaking sometime in the afternoon.
In my opinion (only opinion) it would depend on conditions (the body temperature), but there I see ability to improvement to decrease time spend in HVAC rooms to avoid ,,dumping down" my body.

Low pulse rate - it seems also very reliable (as athletes have very low).

Scott 2 wrote:I like HRV as a spot check for how I am managing stress. It requires a $50 heart rate monitor, phone with Bluetooth, a free app, and about ten minutes a day.

Stress produces health problems. Having a metric that acts as a leading indicator is a great advantage in identifying acute lifestyle problems early.

Optimizing the single score can promote a wide variety of positive health behaviors.
Nice idea. Could you elaborate it? Could you provide link to such device? Nice ,,parameter" to track (as nowadays everybody is stressed and everybody wants to fight with it). Clever one!

James_0011
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by James_0011 »

ShriekingFeralHatred wrote:
James_0011 wrote:Healthy and intelligent populations have been found to have body temperatures of around 98.6 degrees, and pulse rates of 85 bpm. If your pulse drops in the morning after you eat breakfast, you're sympathetic nervous system dominate meaning your not healthy. Someone with parasympathetic dominance will see an increase in pulse and temps after eating - and throughout the day peaking sometime in the afternoon.
Hate to be a jerk but you have that backwards. Sympathetic dominance would increase pulse, parasympathetic would decrease it. No comment on the claim itself.
If stress hormones are high in the morning, a meal of food would decrease the stress hormones and bring pulse down, meaning that the individual is in a sympathetic dominant state in the morning. If pulse goes up after eating, the increase in pulse and temps are an indication of increased thyroid activity meaning that the individual is in a parasympathetic state.

Athletes are extremely unhealthy and many die at a young age.

Stahlmann
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Stahlmann »

Hehe, it makes me to restate my goal one more time :mrgreen:

I wouldn't mind dying painlessly at 70 years old (let it makes our ,,ultimate" goal) . I just want to have energy and be able to work on my projects vigorously for such period. Personally, I don't mind living long.

It's good time for next question: How about fellow ERErians? Have you accounted ,,no daily grind" for good?

I thought low pulse rate shows good health of ,,pumping" system.

Scott 2
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Scott 2 »

This is the FAQ for the app I use. The white paper they provide for creating an account has a pretty thorough overview, they also have a couple free podcasts:

https://elitehrv.com/faq/

I just use a polar h2 heart rate band I bought off of Amazon for $50. The are a variety of options that will work.

I don't think resting heart rate is a very reliable metric. This improve on it.

Stahlmann
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Stahlmann »

Scott 2 wrote:This is the FAQ for the app I use. The white paper they provide for creating an account has a pretty thorough overview, they also have a couple free podcasts:

https://elitehrv.com/faq/

I just use a polar h2 heart rate band I bought off of Amazon for $50. The are a variety of options that will work.

I don't think resting heart rate is a very reliable metric. This improve on it.
And what have you observed? Did you add anything special to your daily routine after noticing some peaks?

BRUTE
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by BRUTE »

waist circumference. much easier to tell than weight or body fat, and probably says as much or more for health.
when getting a blood panel, HgA1C is great to get and pretty standard nowadays. if that's under control, most major chronic diseases (diabetes, heart disease) are likely under control.

Scott 2
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Scott 2 »

The app rates your HRV on a 1 to 10 scale.

The biggest impact was it quantified the impact of some work commitments, that were taking me down to a 4 six days of the month. I stopped toughing it out and took the career hit with my boss to change expectations.

If I don't sleep, work too hard, drink too much, etc, I'll see it in the score. It gamifies taking care of yourself.

Stahlmann
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Stahlmann »

BRUTE wrote:waist circumference. much easier to tell than weight or body fat, and probably says as much or more for health.
when getting a blood panel, HgA1C is great to get and pretty standard nowadays. if that's under control, most major chronic diseases (diabetes, heart disease) are likely under control.
Could you elaborate this HgA1C?
I know I can read from internet, but that's not the point :mrgreen: .
Have you escaped from bad region with this measurement? What have you undertaken to ,,rescue" yourself?

How about healthy back? It's probably my Achilles heel. How do you care about it?

Scott 2 wrote:The app rates your HRV on a 1 to 10 scale.

The biggest impact was it quantified the impact of some work commitments, that were taking me down to a 4 six days of the month. I stopped toughing it out and took the career hit with my boss to change expectations.

If I don't sleep, work too hard, drink too much, etc, I'll see it in the score. It gamifies taking care of yourself.
Is free version of app useful? Or is it pay-to-use?
Can I obtain this arm as complex devie (I mean when I buy smartphone it is camera, phone etc - it's complex device)?
Are theu durable?

Farm_or
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Farm_or »

Great thread!

Health is #1 for ER, or any other enjoyable endeavor in life, for that matter.

When I worked at the dirt factory (diatomaceous earth), we had mandatory free annual exams. The more data, the better.

I always had the lowest HR and best vo2max of all the guys that I worked with. That was due to cycling like a maniac in my twenties and thirties. It's stayed with me for over a decade.

Waist vs. height ratio, blood sugar levels, cholesterol, and don't forget sex drive! But don't try to measure that; it will just get smaller

J_
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by J_ »

My attitude about health: I treat good health as a complex goal, a pleasant goal to reach and maintain.
For me It encompasses:
1 study about which food to eat,

2 practice how to prepare that kind of healthy food,

3 have a (kind of) check by eating it and see how my body reacts. It is an ongoing process over the years. (At the moment I read: "How not to die" from Michael Gregor M.D). I eat for more than a decade and a halve now, mainly plant based food.

4 (outdoor) sports which suits my body and and age. They changes over the years. At the moment I practise cycling, walking, skating, crosscountry skiing, swiming and kettle bells. I do one of them every day for at least one hour vigorously. Once per year I check my hart rate in rest and under heavy body use.

5 sleep well, I like it for at least 8 hours in summer 9 hours in winter.

Perhaps once a year I check my blood pressure. I check my weight so now and than as my pants are becoming too tight, and then I start adjusting. So my Bmi is ok , as is my overall condition. Last 16 years no medical treatment or even a flu. I have the idea that I have a better check by carefully observe how my body and my (endurance) condition is than having it checked by medics on body fluids.

So it is a kind of (hard) work to grow older with a healthy body, but the rewards are worth it.

BRUTE
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by BRUTE »

Stahlmann wrote:Could you elaborate this HgA1C?
Hemoglobin A1c represents an average blood glucose over approximately the last 3 months. it says more than a singular blood glucose measurement, because those can fluctuate dramatically over the day.
Stahlmann wrote:How about healthy back?
squats and deadlifts.

Stahlmann
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Stahlmann »

BRUTE wrote:
Stahlmann wrote:Could you elaborate this HgA1C?
Hemoglobin A1c represents an average blood glucose over approximately the last 3 months. it says more than a singular blood glucose measurement, because those can fluctuate dramatically over the day.
Stahlmann wrote:How about healthy back?
squats and deadlifts.
squats and deadlifts - my father has just checked his back (he body-builded during his 20's). They found some problems, probably connected with excessive training. I received ban for deadlifts :mrgreen:

How do you check if your back is OK? Do you have an idea how to minimize long term risk? Do you operate on your maxes during workouts?

BRUTE
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by BRUTE »

so far, brute hasn't lifted high weights particularly. maybe that's the key, lifting in a weight range that is heavy, but does not compromise form? then again, brute is probably a bad specimen, because he hasn't lifted as long or regularly as many others. it's more of an intermittent thing for brute.

Stahlmann
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Re: Quantifying good health/your stats/your stories

Post by Stahlmann »

Are medical doctors prone to ERE idea?

I would glad to hear some expert perspective from fellow users.

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