HEALTH Report

recently I used a phone app to record my weight and BMI. A day or two later I noticed my gym equipment was geared up to track my exercise performance too. It dawned on me that soon I would probably be tracking my exercise and health as a matter of course, sharing it with my doctor or friends on Facebook.

It started me thinking, but what I really wanted to know was how my cholesterol was doing (it had been borderline high a year ago), and what about my blood sugar? In my family history there have been problems with both. Without bothering the doctor every few months, how could I find out? Then I saw an invitation in my local high street pharmacy to get a free check up, so I booked in. It took about half hour; I was weighed, my waist and hips measured, blood pressure taken and I breathed into an electronic monitor to read oxygen levels in my lungs, a pin prick sample of blood was taken to check for cholesterol.

There were plenty of questions about lifestyle too, my diet and exercise and though I was deemed to be in a reasonably fit state, the pharmacist’s assistant trotted out some behavioural advice. I suppose they are wary about commenting too much on the science side of things and would prefer to leave that to a doctor, but the whole reason why I was there was to avoid the doctors waiting room, feeling I was wasting everyone’s time – including my own.

In the evening, over that second glass of wine I was advised against, I resolved to find another way to do this, that would put knowledge of my actual health, not just my lifestyle or current exercise activity, into my own hands.

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