Six vital AT-HOM

Just like vehicles, bodies should have regular warrants of fitness. Discover the simple experiments that reveal where you might need to make some lifestyle tweaks

How would you rate your health? Now is the perfect time to get

the whole family involved and take a quick at-home checkup. Certain measurements and readings can give a clear perspective of your health and serve as benchmarks,” explains pharmacist Abbas Kanani. The numbers also help motivate people to take steps to try to improve it.” Here are the easy tests to take today

1 The cushion test

What it measures: Artery health.

How to do it: Lie on your back on a bed and elevate both bare) legs to a 45-degree angle on cushions. Hold them there for one minute, then quickly hang your legs down over the side of the bed at 90 degrees.

2 The palm reader 

Hold out your hand, palm up, and push your fingers back. Your palm will pale, but if the deep lines go white too, this could be a sign of anaemia most often triggered by lack of iron in the diet, which causes a reduction in red blood cells. Ask your GP for a blood test.

Results: This checks for peripheral arterial disease, where the arteries that supply the leg muscles become furred up and can cause high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. If one or both of your feet or legs become very pale when elevated, but take several minutes to return to their normal colour, or become bright red when hanging, you could have narrowed arteries and need to see your doctor.