Wellness can be a fad, a trend, a month in your year or many things. Making changes can be hard, and often scary, and unfortunately for so many, it can be a short-term change to lifelong habits.

One of the many reasons that this happens is that the wellness you are trying to achieve is never really measured.

It is a vision, a goal but it is not tracked on a regular basis, making that real change hard to achieve.

One of the reasons I achieve such good results with the clients I work with is the fact that I help them to track their wellness on a regular basis and show them the progress they are making. It is pretty simple – what gets measured, gets changed.

A couple of years ago, there was a shift away from monitoring any health indicators, a movement that tried to make people believe you shouldn’t have to track anything. Thankfully, that moment has passed and people’s fear of tracking their health has receded.

One of the reasons for that fear was weight. What if I was to tell you that your weight is just a number, not actually the most important number for your health but one of lots of ways to assess your health. Let’s take a deeper look this week at some of the ways you can track your wellness.

Muscle and fat mass

Weight just tells you how much you weigh and nothing else. Should you know this number? Absolutely.

We generally gain around a stone a decade so it is a good number to know. But more important is how much of your weight is muscle and how much is fat.

I recommend measuring using a smart scales – you want to have as much muscle as possible and keep it as you age. In terms of body fat, the normal range is in the region of 33%-35% or less for women and 25% or below for men.

High body fat puts you at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and that is why it is so important to have the information.

Resting heart rate

Your heart is a muscle – the stronger it is, the less it has to beat.

Knowing how many times it beats at rest is a really important health indicator. About 50-70 beats per minute is a good guide and a goal to aim for.

Waistline

Your waist is a great way to track your health risk.

If you have a waistline more than 40 inches, whether you’re a man or woman, you are at an increased risk of cardiovascular risks and most other health risks too.

To measure your waistline, take a tape, ideally in the morning, place it around your waist and meet at your belly button.

Breathe normally and note the number. Maintaining that number as you age is so important and if your waist is over 40 inches, aim to get it down.

Lower-body strength

How many times you can get up and down out of a chair in 30 seconds without using your hands, is a fabulous lower body strength test. The higher your score, the stronger you are and the healthier you will age as you reduce your risk of trips and falls.

Bone density

Bones are fascinating! Do nothing as you age and they get weaker. Stay strong as you age and they get stronger.

Knowing your bone density, especially as a woman post-menopause, is so important.

Osteoporosis is so prevalent in woman in Ireland, so ask your GP to refer you for a dexa scan and know your number. No matter what age you are, you can strengthen your bones. Eating better and lifting weights will keep those bones strong.

Wellness can mean different things to different people. Whatever it is for you at this stage in your life, try and find a way to measure it. Measure on a regular basis and you are on your way to lifelong wellness.

Watch Karl Henry’s video for tips on tracking your health:

Next week: What you need to know about GLP-1s.