5 Things Every Woman Should Test for in Midlife
“Nobody knows your body like you do.” “When it comes to your health, you MUST be your own advocate.”
These are things I’ve been saying to my patients throughout my career. And in midlife, they’re more important than ever. Listen, we’ve spent alot of years living in our bodies. We know them and understand them better now than we ever have. Plus, we aren’t getting any younger (whatever!! tell that to my brain), and everything we do now will set us up for how we live our lives 10, 20, 30, and 40 years down the road. We can take steps now to set ourselves up for health, high function, and vitality. Or we can do nothing, running the risk of our bodies breaking down, our energy levels going down, and our pain levels going up.
Lucky for us, there are many steps we can take to ensure that we’re preparing for health and vitality as we age. Our eating habits are important, so are the vitamins and supplements we take. Regular exercise that includes stretching and postural training is a neccesity, as is stress management. And, we should have a health care provider on our health and wellness team that we can trust. One that listens to us.
Working with a health care provider that we trust is one of the most important things we can do as a a midlife woman. This could be a general practioner, a nurse practitioner, a physician’s assistant, a functional medicine doctor, a chiropractor, or a naturopath. Whoever it is should ALWAYS listen to you and NEVER blow off something you are telling them about your body. They should also be open minded about running tests that you feel are important to your health. Let’s talk about a few of those tests and why they’re so important at this stage of life.
HbA1c or hemoglobin A1c will give you your average blood sugar over the past three months. This is important because blood sugar relates to heart health, adrenal gland health/stress management in the body, weight control, anxiety, and hormone health. It also gives you a picture of whether or not you are pre diabetic or diabetic.
Homocysteine is an amino acid found in the blood. When found in high levels, it is linked to a higher risk of heart disease. Knowing this information early will allow us to take the appropriate steps to keep our heart healthy.
Vitamin D is actually more of a hormone because it has so mant functions in the body. It’s responsible for things like mood, cancer prevention, and immune system support. Most of us are extremely vitamin D deficient so knowing where our levels are will enable us to supplement properly. Vitamin D is especially important in midlife when very often our mood fluctuates and our immune systems become weaker. I always take a vitamin D supplement with vitamin K2 to help maximize bone density and health.
Iron is a mineral necessary for proper movement of oxygen through our blood. During perimenopause, many of us will experience heavy periods and more frequent periods which can lead to low iron levels. Low iron levels can lead to things like fatigue, shortness of breath, headaches, irregular heart rate, and anxiety. All of these are symptoms that many women in midlife experience. Knowing your iron levels will allow you to make appropriate changes to your diet and supplement safely
Triglycerides are fat that circulates in your body. High triglycerides can increase the risk of stroke, heart attack, and heart disease. High levels could be due to a diet high in unhealthy fats, inability to properly break down and assimilate fat, and insulin resistance. Appropriate changes to diet can bring high levels down.
Typically when we have a yearly wellness check up, our health care provider will run blood work as a general scan. With the exception of Triclgycerides, the tests listed above are often left out. Which, is exactly why I’m mentioning them to you. I like to monitor my own health with yearly blood work and these 5 are levels I always have tested. When testing, t’s also a good idea to compare your results to previous years so you can get an overall picture of what’s going on in your body and you can monitor your healthy lifestyle choices, making changes where necessary. If you find, after testing, that one of these are higher or lower than they should be, you should probably have them retested sooner than the following year. Consider repeat testing in 3 months or 6 months instead.
Many doctors and health care providers are already doing these tests. If your provider isn’t, it may be time to have a conversation with them. If your provider is unwilling to listen and won’t run the tests you want, it may be time to find a new practitioner to add your health care team. Don’t enter into a relationship with a health care provider with blind trust. It’s ok to ask questions. It’s important to educate yourself. And it’s imperative to listen to your body.