Lab Tests I Track Regularly
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
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
Hormones:
- Total Testosterone
- Free Testosterone
- DHT
- DHEAS – CVD, Kidney
- SHBG
- Estradiol
- Free T3 – CVD
- Total T3 – Thyroid, Kidney, CVD
- Total T4
- Free T4
- TSH
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:
Nutrients (serum):
- Zinc
- Copper
- Folate
- B12
- Vitamin D
- Selenium – Kidney
- Chromium – Kidney
- Molybdenum
- B1/Thiamine
- B2/Riboflavin
- B3/Nicotinic Acid
- Biotin
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
- Cortisol
Heavy Metals:
- Lead
- Arsenic
- Cadmium
- Mercury
- Aluminum
Muscle:
- Creatine Kinase
- LDH
Less frequent tests
These are good to check less frequently:
- Fructosamine
- 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
- OxPL-apoB (Oxidized phospholipids)
- oxLDL – CVD
- Carotid IMT (ultrasound)
- Myoglobin
- Anti-TPO
- Anti-Tg
- ANA
- Anti-CCP
- Rheumatoid factor
- IgA
- IgE
- IgG
- IgM
- Complement C3
- Complement C4
- CH50
- Cortisol – CVD
- Calcitriol (1,25 Vit D)
- IGF1 – Kidney
- Pregnenolone
- Prolactin
- Parathyroid hormone (PTH)
- LH
- FSH
- Aldosterone
- VIP
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
Other
- Frequency of infections or feeling close to getting one and recovery length
- White hairs
- Wrinkles
- Body composition
- Tinea versicolor infection
