Why Discovering Your Health Baseline Really Matters

Every human body is completely unique. None of us eat exactly the same, exercise to the same degree or perform the same exercises, or live identical lifestyles. Add to that genetic variation and it’s clear that a single exercise or dietary regimen won’t fit the majority of Americans.

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Instead, it’s a better idea to determine your personal health baseline: a breakdown of your current health status and a guide you can use to adjust your lifestyle for better health results.

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Not convinced that your health baseline really matters? Let’s explore why you should discover your health baseline as soon as possible and how you can do so at one of our clinics now.

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What Exactly Is A Health Baseline?

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A health baseline is a breakdown of your basic health level, which is gleaned from both baseline tests and from analyzing certain aspects of your life.

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In many cases, health baselines are used to determine whether you are suffering from one or more chronic conditions or if you are at risk for developing chronic conditions in the future.

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Your health baseline can be affected by a wide variety of things, including:

• Your family history and genetics
• Your lifestyle, which includes your exercise routine and diet
• Your environment, such as the weather and whether there are any contaminants in the air or water
• Your social life or mental health

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Your health baseline can be thought of as your current state of health at a given point in time. The most thorough baseline examinations check both your physical and mental health, although most baseline tests can only check for physical health characteristics by examining biomarkers and other compounds in the blood.

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Why Does It Matter?

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In short, because understanding your body is the first step towards optimizing your health. A health baseline takes the guesswork out of what can help you feel even better. Moreover, it can even help you get preventative care before conditions develop or you experience symptoms from chronic issues.

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When it comes to long-term health and wellness, there are two components to focus on: active or current treatment for illness as you are aware of and experiencing as well as preventative care to prevent or gradual health decline in the future.

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Most people already know that it’s important to seek out active care for current illnesses or injuries. But people are much less responsible when it comes to maintaining good preventative care. Health baselines can help prevent this bad habit from continuing.

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Determining your health baseline can assist with uncovering and treating conditions that may affect you in the future. For example, baseline tests can help to detect certain forms of benign cancer before they turn worse, or they can help detect the likelihood of allergic reactions or autoimmune diseases flaring up in the future.

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How Does Your Health Baseline Help You Reach Your Goals?

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There’s another big benefit to baseline tests that skeptics often miss: they can help you to reach your fitness or wellness goals, especially if you are an athlete or are looking to curate a perfect diet for your body.

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A baseline test, by analyzing biomarkers (such as hormones, vitamin and mineral levels, and levels of blood cells in your blood), can help you determine the best therapies, treatments, exercise routines, and dietary choices to focus on for long-term wellness and maximum body efficiency.

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There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for holistic wellness, whether you’re talking about exercise or diet. A baseline test can analyze your body in-depth and show you the kinds of foods that will be most effective for your needs and help you shape your lifestyle into one most suitable for your unique physiological requirements or limitations.

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This is the same philosophy behind some of our other blood tests, like our Food Sensitivity or Micronutrient Tests. Both of those can also help people avoid foods that may be causing mild allergic reactions or food sensitivities without those folks even knowing it.

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Bottom line: if you want to maximize your wellness at a personal level, you’ll need a baseline test to start your journey and to ensure that you make the wisest decisions possible.

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How Are Baseline Tests Administered?

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You can normally can receive health baseline tests at wellness clinics like Next Health or at medical centers if they are required for your treatment. Doctors and other physicians normally won’t order baseline tests unless they need to know about the presence of compounds in your blood or other things for your treatment.

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At Next Health, you can take charge of your health and get a baseline test whenever you want. Baseline tests can be administered either at our clinics or in your own home (although you have to ship the blood sample to one of our laboratories for it to be properly analyzed).

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Either way, baseline tests are administered by taking a blood sample and shipping that sample to a lab. The lab then uses automated tools under the supervision of human experts to check for biomarkers in the blood, to investigate blood cell counts, and to otherwise analyze the sample as thoroughly as possible.

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With Next Health, your results will either be mailed to you or mailed to one of our clinics to be discussed in person with one of our specialists. Either way, your results are broken down in understandable ways and offered with optional suggestions or potential improvements to your lifestyle.

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What Do They Check For?

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We offer two different types of baseline tests at Next|Health.

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Our basic Baseline Test measures hormonal, metabolic, and inflammatory markers throughout your body. It’s supposed to be relatively broad and can afford you a birds-eye view of your overall health. While it’s not as in-depth as the other option, it’s still a great place to start if you want to maximize your health.

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Meanwhile, our Total Baseline Test is much more thorough and looks for a variety of specific biomarkers that are often seen as signs of chronic conditions or potential health issues. For example, this test checks for biomarkers like:

• CBC or complete blood count
• Vitamin D
• Lipids
• Vitamin B12 levels
• Heavy metal toxins
• Hormones
• Autoimmune markers
• Cardiac disease markets
• Complete Thyroid Panel

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It’s much more thorough to provide our patients with as much information about their overall wellness as possible. But both types of baseline tests can be effective.

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Contact us today and speak with one of our specialists to determine which of the baseline tests will be best for your needs.

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How Often Do You Need Follow-Up Baseline Tests?

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That depends on how often your lifestyle significantly changes and how often you want to keep your information up to date.

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In most cases, you don’t need regular baseline tests unless you have dramatically altered your diet, exercise routine, or have moved to a totally different environment. But you may need a baseline test after some years have passed, as the physiological changes wrought by aging can adjust the levels of biomarkers in your blood and which types of foods or exercises will be most beneficial for your wellness goals.

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Furthermore, you may need more frequent baseline tests if you have complex medical conditions or chronic issues, such as sensitivities to a wide variety of necessary foods. In general, many people will be satisfied and see the benefits of baseline tests by getting one every few years at most.

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But you can speak to one of our wellness specialists or your doctor about baseline test frequency to find a frequency that’s perfect for your lifestyle and goals.

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Additional Ways To Determine Your Health Baseline

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In addition to taking dedicated health baseline tests, you can also do a little homework yourself to determine your health baseline and to set yourself up for success.

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These methods include:

• Tracking both the consistency and the quality of your sleep. Sleep is dramatically undervalued in our culture, but it’s vital for long-term wellness and excellent health. Track how long and how often you sleep each day to develop your health baseline, then make adjustments as needed.
• You should also track everything you eat and drink, as well as the amounts. Again, this can help you to adjust your diet if necessary after getting the results from your baseline test.
• Determine some basic biological attributes, like your age, weight, and BMI or body fat percentage.
• Track how often you exercise and try to determine how many calories you burn with every exercise session. This can help you adjust your exercise routine if needed.

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Summary

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In the end, discovering your health baseline is one of the best things you can do to strategize for long-term health success and ensure good choices going forward. With Next Health’s help, you’ll be able to develop a wellness regimen that combines dietary choices, exercise routines, and regular boosts to your physiology through targeted therapies.

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Want to learn more about when you can take a baseline test at one of our clinics? Contact us today and we’ll get started!

Sources:

Baseline tests or screening: what tests do family physicians order routinely on their healthy patients? | NCBI

Definition of complete blood count - NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms | Cancer.gov

What are Biomarkers? | NCIB

Sleep-tracking devices: Dos and don'ts | Mayo Clinic