Measuring My Health: Lab Tests & Data Points I Track

Lab Tests I Track

Cardiovascular and kidney health are two of the most important areas in health in terms of the scale of mortality. Also, they are easily trackable and you can slow down the disease progression by quite a lot through supplements and lifestyle. I can feel amazing, but you don’t necessarily feel that you are getting cardiovascular or kidney disease.

Most of the time, people only find out very late in their development. For example, 9/10 people with kidney disease don’t know they have it – and 1/7 adults in the US have it.

This list is not exhaustive, but these are the tests that I like to measure more often – ideally every 4 months.

General Health:

• Weight
• Blood Pressure – CVD, Kidney –  blood pressure cuff
• HRV – Oura
• Heart rate – Apple watch
• Sleep length & quality (REM, Deep) -through Oura and Apple Watch
• Oxygen %
• Urinary pH – Longevity
• Ketones

Complete Blood Count (CBC):

• WBC (neutrophil, eosinophil, basophil, lymphocyte, monocyte) -CVD
• RBCs, Hematocrit, Hemoglobin – CVD  MR
• Platelets – CVD

Glucose control/insulin sensitivity:

• Fasting Glucose – Diabetes, CVD
• HbA1C – Diabetes, CVD
• Insulin – CVD
• Fructosamine – only needs to be tested once

Blood minerals:

• Calcium (CMP) – Kidney, CVD Per 0.5-mg/dL increase, OR = 1.25 [1].
• Potassium (CMP)
• Sodium (CMP)
• Chloride (CMP)
• Iron & ferritin
• Phosphorous – Prostate cancer, Kidney

Inflammation:

• Hs-CRP – CVD, Kidney
• Ferritin

Lipids/Lipoproteins/Cardiac:

• Triglycerides
• LP(A)/Lipoprotein(a) – CVD, Kidney (casual and marker)
• APOB – CVD
• LDL-C – CVD, Kidney
• VLDL – CVD
• HDL
• LDL particle number and size – CVD
• LP-PLA2 – CVD
• Homocysteine – CVD – 2, Kidney
• OxPL-apoB (Oxidized phospholipids)
• oxLDL – CVD
• Carotid IMT (ultrasound)

Hormones:

• Total Testosterone
• Free Testosterone
• DHT
• DHEAS – CVD, Kidney
• SHBG
• Estradiol
• Cortisol – CVD
• Free T3 – CVD
• Total T3 – Thyroid, Kidney, CVD
• Total T4
• Free T4
• TSH
• IGF1 – Kidney
• Pregnenolone
• Prolactin
• Parathyroid hormone (PTH)
• LH
• FSH
• Aldosterone
• VIP

Kidney:

• Cystatin C – Kidney, CVD, Mortality
• BUN/Urea (CMP) – Kidney
• Creatinine (CMP) – Kidney
• eGFR (CMP) – Kidney
• CO2 (CMP) – CVD, Kidney
• Uric Acid – CVD – MR, Kidney
• Urinary protein – Kidney
• Albumin urine – Kidney

Liver:

• GGT
• Total protein (CMP)
• Albumin (CMP) – CVD, Kidney, Liver
• Globulin (CMP)
• ALT (CMP) – Liver, CVD, Prostate Cancer (higher levels are better for CVD & Prostate cancer) – Riboflavin reduces, folate increases
• AST (CMP) – Liver
• Alkaline Phosphatase (CMP) – Liver, CVD, Kidney
• Ammonia – Kidney, Liver
• Bilirubin (CMP)

STD panel:

• HIV
• Chlamydia
• Syphilis
• HSV

Pancreas:

• Amylase – Kidney, Pancreas
• Lipase – Kidney, Pancreas

Nutrients (serum):

• Zinc
• Copper
• Folate
• B12
• Vitamin D
• Calcitriol (1,25 Vit D)
• Selenium – Kidney
• Chromium – Kidney
• Molybdenum
• B1/Thiamine
• B2/Riboflavin
• B3/Nicotinic Acid
• Biotin
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin K
• Lithium
• Cortisol

Heavy Metals:

• Lead
• Arsenic
• Cadmium
• Mercury
• Aluminum

Muscle:

• Creatine Kinase
• LDH
• Myoglobin

Antibodies/Autoimmunity:

• Anti-TPO
• Anti-Tg
• ANA
• Anti-CCP
• Rheumatoid factor
• IgA
• IgE
• IgG
• IgM
• Complement C3
• Complement C4
• CH50

Less frequent tests:

• VO2 max
• Bone density (Dexa scan)
• 8-oxoguanine
• TMAO – CVD
• Klotho
• Carnitine
• Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) – CVD
• Von Willebrand factor
• Fibrinogen
• NT-proBNP
• Circulating amino acids – glycine, alanine, glutamine, lysine, leucine, etc.
• Sperm motility
• Ankle–brachial pressure index
• Coronary CT Calcium Scan
• Coronary CT Angiography

Qualitative Measures That I Track

I keep a close eye on these metrics, many of which are qualitative, but I am still quite aware of all of these.

Make sure to check this post on 10 essential blood tests to get.

Sleep quality

• Time it takes to fall asleep
• Number of midnight wakings
• Waking up feeling refreshed

Cognitive function

• Reasoning – my day involves a lot of reasoning
• Reading comprehension – my day involves a lot of reading comprehension
• Verbal ability (including number of filler words used)
• Attention – I need to be focused in the day
• Alertness
• Working memory (including keeping track of volleyball scores)
• Memory – I am required to memorize a lot of information

Mood

• General mood
• Anxiety
• Stress tolerance
• Insecurity
• Negative thoughts
• Anxious behaviors – including how much I fiddle with hair, nails, eyebrows, lip biting, etc…)

Energy

• Energy levels
• Motivation
• Sex drive
• Exercise tolerance
• Exercise performance
• Stamina

Gut health

• Bloating
• Flatulence & smell

Other

• Frequency of infections or feeling close to getting one and recovery length
• White hairs
• Wrinkles
• Tinea versicolor infection