Biometric Screening

BMI

In a Biometric Screening, the first thing that is done is your body measurements. Assessing your height, weight, and body mass index can help a health professional understand if you are overweight or not. It’s important to know how overweight you are so that goals can be implemented and the calorie intake needed to reach those goals can be assessed. 

Glucose Levels

It’s good to be aware of your glucose levels. Glucose is a vital part of your body’s circulatory system. Low Blood glucose can lead  to death. If one notices that they are lethargic, irritable, have impaired mental functionality, or they pass out, it could be a sign of low blood glucose. Transversely, having high blood glucose can be just as dangerous. High blood glucose leads to diseases like diabetes.

Segmental Lean Analysis

This test will tell you how much each body part weighs.

Blood Pressure

High blood pressure or hypertension is linked to heart disease and stroke, which makes measuring your blood pressure a very important factor in the biometric screening process. Corporate wellness trainers will typically focus on health promotion foods and exercises that are safe for people with high blood pressure in order to treat hypertension.

Water Weight

Your body has intracellular and extracellular fluid. Intracellular fluid resides within individual cells, while extracellular fluid is contained outside and between the cells. The fluid you regularly think of when you think of body fluids, such as saliva, sweat, urine, blood and tears accounts for much of the extracellular fluid. In fact, according to “Exercise Physiology,” blood itself accounts for 20% of the extracellular fluid. What you may not realize is that extracellular fluid only accounts for about 38% of total body fluid, while intracellular fluid accounts for roughly 62%. A healthy water weight percentage will vary widely from person-to-person depending on factors such as age, sex and body composition. Because fat contains a lower percentage of water than muscle, the higher your muscle mass, the greater your percentage water weight will be. Most people contain between 50% and 60% water weight, according to the textbook “Sport Nutrition.” Men tend to have a higher percentage of muscle than women, so a healthy, lean man may have a percentage closer to 60% water, while a healthy, lean woman may have a percentage closer to 50%.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

If you’ve noticed that every year, it becomes harder to eat whatever you want and stay slim, you’ve also learned that your BMR decreases as you age. Likewise, depriving yourself of food in hopes of losing weight also decreases your BMR, a foil to your intentions. However, a regular routine of cardiovascular exercise can increase your BMR, improving your health and fitness when your body’s ability to burn energy gradually slows down.

Cholesterol Levels

Most people aren’t very fond of this test. They draw blood by pricking your finger with a needle to test your cholesterol levels. You will be given metrics on your total cholesterol, HDL, VDL, and VLDL cholesterol levels. However, knowing your cholesterol level is important to know. If the test finds that you have high cholesterol, you should consider changing your diet. Having high cholesterol can lead to a lot of different health problems.

Percentage of Body Fat (PBF)

The simplest way to explain PBF is the percentage of fat that is in your body, excluding everything else. Body fat is an incredibly tricky subject – it’s tough to calculate, tough to track, and most people are way off in their estimates of what they think their body fat percentage is. This is normally a test that is done by a professional corporate wellness trainer. It’s important to keep your PBF at a healthy level and this test can also bring a startling awareness to employees.

Triglyceride Levels

Triglyceride levels are important to know because they give you more insight into your overall health. Triglycerides are commonly found in animal fat and vegetable oil. Having a high triglyceride level can lead to increase risk of heart attack and stroke. Consult your nutritionists or physician for foods that you can eat to lower your triglyceride level.