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There are five health numbers that we all should know and have checked on a regular basis to give us key insights into our health. They are: weight, waist size, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. Why should you know your health numbers? When these numbers are not at the recommended target levels, it can put you at high risk for boat load of health issues. Heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, stoke, impaired vision – just to name a few. Sometimes you may not even experience any symptoms or warning signs. As the saying goes, when you know better, you do better. Knowing your health numbers can help you take charge of your health and make needed adjustments to improve your health.

If you’re a Sam’s Club member, most club locations offer free health screening each month. Since I tend to not go often but spend a lot of time at Sam’s Club when I do go, I decided to take a trip on a day when the health screenings were taking place. The free health screening tests for blood sugar, cholesterol, risk ratio, blood pressure, and body fat percentage. There was very little wait, and they even had a really cool kiosk that also checked your blood pressure, weight, and vision. I played around with that until it was my turn to have my screening done.

Knowing my health numbers gives me an opportunity to know in advance if there are any health concerns I need to address. Normally I wait until my annual physical with my health care provider to get my cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose checked. But knowing that I can stop by my local Sam’s Club location once a month for free to know my numbers is a great perk of having a membership. I have high cholesterol hereditarily so that is a number I always like to keep an eye on, and high blood pressure and glucose levels are also in my family history. Between doctor visits, I can monitor and track of my numbers on your own, which will me better manage my health.

My health screening revealed that my weight, body fat percentage, and blood pressure were all above the recommended target for a woman of my height and age. I already know that this is something I have to constantly work at. I have been out of commission with gout over the last couple of weeks, and it’s amazing how just a few weeks of being sedentary can result in a rise in blood pressure. The goal is to get active again, and better monitor my diet so that I can speed up my weight loss since I seem to have hit a major plateau.

The Healthy Living Made Simple magazine that Sam’s Club members receive always has some great tips and tricks for living a healthier lifestyle. The March/April 2015 edition had an article on training for long distance running, which is something I plan on starting now that warmer weather has arrived. I love to run, and find that not only does it have heart benefits, it also has mental benefits. I’ve gotten some great ideas and released some mental stress while on a run – its really therapeutic. Even though my longest run has only been an 8K and I have no intentions on running any race longer than that, the article shared some great tips for runners of all levels.

Now that I know Sam’s Club offers this service, I plan to make some changes to my daily regimen and head back to Sam’s in May for the next free screening. If you would like to attend one near you, here’s more information on next month’s free health screening.

When was the last time you had your health numbers check? I’d love to hear what you are doing to get or keep those health numbers where they should be!