How Small Weight Changes Can Increase Your Health Risk
QHHL 
Oct 18 2019
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0 QHHL
If you don’t monitor your health closely, you’ll miss important signs of ill health. And missing these signs can increase your health risk over the long term.
Your body changes constantly, both on a day to day basis and over longer periods. It can be easy to miss or dismiss these small changes as a natural part of the aging process. However, some of these changes can indicate a larger health problem. They may even indicate a future disease or disorder that can seriously impact your quality of life and longevity. That’s why you need to actively monitor your health measurements to safeguard your long-term health.
You obviously don’t want to spend your life worrying about your health. That’s why it’s important that you set up a simple, regular program for monitoring your health. Regular visits to the doctor should obviously be a part of that. But doctors have limited time. So, if you can’t give them all the relevant information about your health, it’s easy for them to miss things. And this is a serious problem because early intervention is key to continued good health and disease recovery.
That’s why it’s important that you monitor your health at home. There are several ways to do this and just as many measurements you can take. And best of all, thanks to technology advances, health monitoring is easier than ever. Some of the monitoring activities you should be doing at home are:
And remember that you’re not just looking for big changes. Even small changes in these measurements can add to or detract from your health risk over time.
A recent study has highlighted how important small changes can be to health risk. The study tested the effects of visceral fat on health. Visceral fat accumulates around organs and intestines. Obviously, this type of fat is very difficult to measure. Previously, visceral fat was measured using expensive tests like MRI or CT scans. The expense and trouble of these tests means they were rarely used for this purpose.
However, the researchers in this study devised a simple but effective tool to measure it indirectly. This model uses body mass index, age, and waist and thigh circumferences to estimate the amount of visceral fat. The model has its drawbacks. But it’s also easy to use, costs nothing, and can be done anywhere. With this easy model, you can estimate your visceral fat at home and begin reducing this health risk.
The study showed that one kilo of extra visceral fat increases the risk of Type II Diabetes. In women, the risk was increased by 7. And in men, the risk was twice as high. This shows just how important this type of fat is to health risk measurement. And it highlights the importance of small weight changes over time.
Small weight changes can do more than increase the risk of developing diabetes. They can also reverse it. A study on the link between behavior changes and weight loss after a Type II diabetes diagnosis unearthed something interesting. It showed that a 10 percent reduction of weight could reverse this condition.
10 percent might not sound like a small change. It might sound like a huge one for some people. But it does give a tangible goal to anyone who wants to be free of Type II diabetes. If you take measures to decrease your weight by small amounts over time, this is the stage at which you will start to reap the most important rewards of your effects. And, of course, you will enjoy all the benefits of weight loss along the way as well.
That’s why you should never ignore small changes, good or bad. Keep a record of them and show them to your doctor if you have concerns. It’s also important that you use effective measurement tools. Ineffective or faulty tools can hide these types of small changes. And that would rob you of early warnings as well as signs that your health is improving.
If you’re concerned about a health risk, try using HomeLab to keep track of your condition and any preventative measures you take. And if you see signs of a significant problem, you should check with your doctor as soon as possible.
Tags: Health Risk, diabetes