For decades, the standard way to measure a person’s health has been BMI and age. But BMI’s ability to predict health is questionable. Most obviously, a person who’s unusually muscular could fall under “obese” under the BMI system despite being perfectly healthy. Instead, a growing group of scientists are urging society to focus on strength tests, such as grip strength, walking speed and the ability to do push-ups. A large number of studies have found a correlation between strength-related tests and longevity, and they indirectly give hints as to your blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
Key Takeaways:
- Some of the vital signs that give the numbers which are mainly used for assessing health are blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature.
- In an emergency, these health numbers are what paramedics first check for.
- If someone wants to know whether he or she will live an average life or live a longer life, the numbers to check for are age and body weight.
“BMI is used to define obesity and “overweight,” and so to stratify risks in insurance and health-care industries. This number has come to be massively consequential in the lives of millions of people, and to influence the movement of billions of dollars.”
Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/06/push-ups-body-weight-bmi/592834/
