The start of a new year often sees us setting goals that involve our health and wellbeing.
Whether it’s breaking a habit that’s harming our health, such as smoking or drinking too much alcohol, or trying to make positive changes to help boost our wellbeing like losing weight, drinking more water, or eating a more balanced diet, our new year’s resolutions are often heavily influenced by our health.
Some of our habits are obviously more harmful, so it’s easier to set goals to tackle those. But, improving our health more broadly can feel like a vague aspiration. If we don’t know the status of our health to start with, how do we know what to work on?
Where to start?
This is where blood testing can help. Giving you a complete picture of your health, your risk factors, and the areas that need improvement can give you a helpful baseline to work from, empowering you to make real changes.
There are several key markers in particular which can provide a good insight into your overall health. Armed with information about the performances of these various vital organs and systems, you can make the right changes to your diet, exercise, or supplement regime and have a better understanding of what you might be at greater risk of in the future. These markers include:
Diabetes risk
Diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy. Most of the food you eat is broken down into sugar (glucose) and released into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar rises, it tells your pancreas to release insulin, but this process can be interrupted, leading to complications that cause diabetes. Untreated, diabetes can lead to a host of health issues from eye conditions to heart disease, which is why early diagnosis is important.
Essential elements and vitamins
Knowing the vitamins and minerals you may be deficient in can be incredibly valuable. Conditions such as persistent fatigue can be caused by a lack of adequate nutrition. It might be the case that, despite a seemingly healthy and balanced diet, your body struggles to absorb or retain certain nutrients but once you are aware of what’s missing, it’s easy to remedy.
Kidney and liver function
The liver and the kidneys are some of the most essential and hardworking organs in the body. They carry out a range of vital functions including the excretion of waste, metabolism of many substances, hormonal regulation, and proper digestion. Poor liver and kidney function can lead to a host of related health issues.
Thyroid function
If your thyroid isn’t functioning correctly, you could experience problems at either end of the spectrum; either losing or gaining too much weight, struggling with energy levels, and a host of other problems, including brain fog, depression, fertility problems, and osteoporosis.
Private blood testing for overall health
Whether you’re feeling generally well, or you have some concerns, taking a closer look at your health profile is a great way to understand how well your body is functioning, heading off any potential health issues before they become more serious.
But with GP waiting times increasing in many practices and resources more stretched, private blood testing is becoming a common alternative for many people looking to take control of their health.
At Blue Horizon we offer a comprehensive range of blood testing options, both standalone, and as part of a larger profile of diagnostic checks to help you get a complete picture of your health. One of our most popular options, the Comprehensive Plus VIP, gives you a complete health MOT.
Our Comprehensive Plus VIP includes tests for:
- Full blood count
- Proteins
- Liver function
- Cholesterol
- Iron status
- Thyroid function
- Vitamins
- Kidney function
- Haemoglobin
- And more
Prevention is better than the cure
Checking in on our health is so important. Many conditions which go on to be serious and debilitating, if caught early, are easily managed through diet or lifestyle changes, supplements, or a temporary course of treatment.
With GP waiting times increasing in many practices, and appointments for non-urgent care more difficult to access, private blood testing is becoming a common alternative for many people looking to take control of their health.
Our Comprehensive Bronze Health Screen is a great option for those looking for a broad snapshot of their overall health, as it tests the blood for a number of key health indicators, deficiencies, and disease markers, removing a lot of guess work and flagging any potential problems.
The test looks at liver, thyroid and kidney function, vitamin levels, cholesterol, diabetes markers, iron levels and much more.
You can choose whether to have a home visit from a qualified nurse or visit one of our BMI hospital partners to have your blood sample collected for testing. You can also choose a vacutainer sample collection option if you prefer.
