I think when you have children you tend to start taking your health a bit more seriously. I may not have done everything I possibly can to be healthier but I have certainly taken steps such as quitting smoking. John and I are currently trying to be a bit healthier with our food and cutting down on snacks and chocolate. However, something I don’t think I’ve ever had checked is my cholesterol. I’m 31 and I really should have done this by now I think.
October was NationalAwareness Month and while we may be a little bit late to the game, I think it’s important to talk about it. Something I didn’t know until recently is that (according to UK stats from the British Heart Foundation) 40,000 people die from strokes every year and 158,000 people die from heat disease every year. How scary are those numbers?
So, while going to your GP is the best and most accurate way to get your cholesterol tested, Push Doctor are sending out FREE home tests to get you started. We were sent a couple of tests so that John and I could test ourselves and they couldn’t have been easier to do.
Inside the test kit you get two finger prick tests and a guide to show you where your cholesterol level lies. Inside the white packets are a strip which you attach to the chart. Then, massage whichever thumb you’re going to use, twist the lid off the finger prick box and off you go! After getting a good spot of blood you need to pop it on the testing strip and make sure it covers the required area. After 40 seconds you can check the test and the colour should change to a shade of green and this is what you then match to the colours on the card.
According to the test, both me and John have pretty bad cholesterol. Honestly though, I wasn’t really surprised as we don’t have the best diet and apart from running around after Erin, I don’t really do any exercise. The instructions that come with the kit explain each of the colour readings and it lets you know when you should seek the advice of your GP. As both of our tests gave pretty bad results, this is something we both definitely need to work on and seeking some advice would be a sensible thing to do!
I’m so glad we were able to use these free tests from Push Doctor! Make sure you head over to the website to get yours sent out to you.
Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post. All opinions are our own.
