Part of Mind-Body Medicine is BODY!  They are interdependent and it’s helpful to get all the information you can about yourself. In Energy Medicine, we often think of psychology effecting physiology, but the reverse is also true. The following are five important physical check-ups that you should get, per Dr. Oz, as stated when he appeared on The Oprah Show, 1/12/11.

This is part of  the basic monitoring of your body, so that you can know what’s going on and keep yourself functioning optimally:  

1). Blood Pressure = 115/75 is best 110/70 is even better, as long as you’re not experiencing dizziness or light-headedness. This is to protect your heart and circulatory system. You can by a gauge of your own and/or many drugstores offer this service.

2). Waist Size = Your waist size should be one half your height. So I am 5′ 6″ (66″), therefore my waist should be no more than 33″. Having extra weight around the middle makes it hard on your internal organs, the 2 kidneys mostly. The kidneys are part of our waste-filtering system. Measure yourself once a month.

3). Weight = Find a weight that’s appropriate for you, then weigh yourself weekly on the same scale, same time of day, in the same clothing. Catching weight gain or loss earlier rather than later is an important clue to your health, making so you can more quickly remedy a situation if there is a problem. Check out this chart to find out your “ideal” weight based on your height: www.healthchecksystems.com

4). Cholesterol = HDL (“the happy kind”) should be 50 or above, the higher the better. LDL (“the lousy kind”) should be 100 or under. Get checked every 5 years.

5). Fasting Blood Sugar Test for Diabetes = Do 6-8 hours after a meal and the results should not be more than 100.

In addition, your resting heart-rate, taken first thing in the morning (at your wrist or neck), should be:
40-50 beats per second for athletes.
60’s for the rest of us.
83 and above is dangerous for everybody.

If fear or finances are the problem, then get yourself to the doctor at least once to get thoroughly checked out. This enables you to have a baseline from which to work and compare in the future. I recommend recording your findings in a labeled notebook. Keeping a notebook like this is also good for keeping track of your physical/psychological symptoms, as well as the life circumstances which may be affecting your health. Such a notebook can assist you with a quick and easy way to track your stats over time. This information will come in handy for both yourself, and any practitioner whose aid you may seek.