Build Your Healthspan Profile: Start With What You Already Have

Your information comes from three places

Existing healthcare records may contain blood tests, bone-density reports, diagnoses, and treatment plans. These are worth gathering before arranging anything new.

Home measurements and observations can describe weight, waist size, blood pressure, activity, sleep, food choices, and everyday difficulties. Consistency makes repeated measurements more informative.

Professional assessments provide information that needs equipment, a defined test method, or clinical interpretation. Strength and mobility testing, exercise testing, and hearing or vision assessments belong here when appropriate.

The following overview connects these sources with the 13 areas. It highlights useful starting information, not every optional field. You do not need a new test for each row.

The System uses these kinds of information differently. Some support numerical estimates, some provide context, and others guide follow-up. An activity record describes a habit; it does not measure aerobic fitness. The explanation beside each result helps show what it is based on. For more detail on these distinctions, read how Healthspan interprets your information.

Look through your records before booking tests

Your patient portal is a useful starting point. Look for actual reports rather than a message saying that everything was “normal.” A report gives you the test name, result, units, sample date, and reference information.^[1]

You may find some relevant results on different visits or in different sections of the portal. Keep the original reports together so you can return to them when a date or unit needs checking. If you cannot find a report, your healthcare office or laboratory may be able to provide a copy.

An older result can still describe an earlier point in time. Give it its original date rather than presenting it as a measurement taken today. Whether it should be repeated is a separate question to discuss in the context of your health and care plan.

Cholesterol and blood sugar

A lipid panel commonly reports total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and triglycerides. Copy the result for the specific measurement requested, with its units. Preparation can vary; the ordering clinician or laboratory should tell you whether fasting is needed.^[2]

HbA1c and glucose answer different questions. HbA1c reflects average blood sugar over roughly three months and does not require fasting by itself. A fasting plasma glucose test requires at least eight hours without food; follow the laboratory’s instructions about preparation.^[3]

If both are ordered with other tests, follow the instructions for the whole appointment. Do not assume that every blood draw requires fasting—or that none does. Keep any known fasting conditions with the glucose result, and ask about medicines rather than changing them yourself. In the System, answer the separate fasting question: a non-fasting result remains context, while fasting comparisons require confirmed fasting conditions.

Kidney results: look for the blood test and the urine test

The blood report may include creatinine and an estimated filtration rate, eGFR. The urine report may include uACR, which relates urine albumin to urine creatinine. These provide complementary information about kidney filtration and possible damage.^{[4] [5]}

Creatinine is not the same value as eGFR. Likewise, a general urine test is not automatically a uACR result. If a report names albumin without the ratio, ask which result it represents before entering it into a ratio field.

You may have one result but not the other. That gives you a focused question for your clinician: would the missing measurement be useful given your risk factors, symptoms, and previous results?

Bone-density reports

If you have already had a DXA scan, keep the complete report. The measurement site and whether the result is a T-score or Z-score matter. Those scores have different interpretations depending on the person being assessed.^[6] Keep the scan date with the report. The System also asks about low-trauma fractures and long-term systemic glucocorticoid (steroid) treatment.

A missing DXA result does not make a scan necessary for everyone. Previous fractures, age, medication use, and other risk factors help a clinician decide whether testing is appropriate.^[6]

A few home measurements can add useful detail

Blood pressure: technique makes the reading more useful

A validated automatic upper-arm monitor with a correctly fitting cuff is a good starting point. A healthcare professional or pharmacist can help check the device and cuff.^[7]

Before measuring, avoid caffeine, smoking, and exercise for 30 minutes, empty your bladder, and rest quietly for at least five minutes. Avoid talking or using your phone during the rest and readings. Measure on a bare arm with the arm supported at heart level. Take two readings one minute apart and keep both. Your clinician can advise how often to measure and which summary is appropriate for your care.^[7]

A consistent method makes the record easier to interpret. Keep the original readings even if the profile uses a summary value.

Weight and waist: keep the conditions comparable

For weight, use the same scale in the same place on a firm, level surface. Similar clothing and a similar time of day make comparisons more useful. NHS guidance suggests consistent timing, preferably in the morning.^[8]

Waist size needs a repeatable location. One commonly used method measures halfway between the bottom of the ribs and the top of the hips, after breathing out naturally. Keep the tape level and snug without digging into the skin.^[9]

Use the method specified by the assessment you are following. Record the method if it changes. A tighter tape or a different location can create an apparent change that does not reflect a change in your body.

Activity and sleep: describe your routine honestly

An activity record can help you estimate how much moderate and vigorous activity belongs to a usual week. It is useful to distinguish time spent moving from the total length of a workout, especially when sessions include rests. A phone or watch can help with tracking, but keep estimates identified as estimates.

Sleep is often easier to describe after observing several nights. The System asks you to describe a typical two-week period. A diary can record sleep and waking times, naps, awakenings, and how rested or sleepy you feel during the day. NHLBI recommends this kind of record to support a discussion with a doctor.^[10]

These observations become useful because they describe a pattern. They also give you something more specific to discuss than “I exercise enough” or “I sleep badly.”

Functional tests need the right method

Grip strength needs a suitable dynamometer and a defined testing procedure. A five-rise chair test records the time needed to stand from a chair five times without using the arms. In the System’s five-rise method, timing ends when you are fully standing on the fifth rise. A different chair test counts repetitions over 30 seconds. These results use different protocols and cannot be entered interchangeably.^{[11] [12]}

Mobility and balance assessments also have defined procedures. A physical therapist or other appropriately trained professional can help choose and conduct a suitable test. If balance is uncertain, you have fallen, or a movement is painful, ask for assistance rather than experimenting alone to obtain a score.

For an aerobic measurement, an exercise-testing service can explain what kind of test it performs. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing measures breathing gases during exercise; other methods estimate fitness. The procedure should suit the person’s exercise capacity and the question being investigated.^[13]

A smartwatch estimate, step count, and laboratory exercise result describe different things. Keep the method with the result. The System’s built-in comparisons have specific requirements, so a clinically useful test may still be recorded as context rather than receive a performance comparison. If you have not taken a test, leave the number blank and use the available method or “not tested” option. Zero is a measurement, not a substitute for missing information.

Some important information does not come from a device

Nutrition, memory, hearing, vision, mood, and social connection include experiences that deserve attention in their own right.

A useful answer describes your usual circumstances. For eating, that may include food choices as well as appetite, unintended weight loss or difficulty obtaining meals. The System’s food-pattern estimate asks about vegetables and fruit, legumes, nuts or seeds, and the frequency of ultra-processed foods. Describe usual intake over a typical two weeks; the separate unintended-weight-loss question covers six months. For hearing, it may be whether you can follow a conversation with your usual hearing aid. For memory, a change noticed by someone close to you may be worth recording alongside your own observations.

These answers are not less valuable simply because they lack a laboratory number. They can make a concern visible and help you explain what has changed. Where an assessment asks about a particular time period, use that period rather than your best day or worst day.

Give every result its identity

Before a result becomes part of a trend, four details deserve attention:

• The measurement: LDL is different from total cholesterol; uACR is different from urine albumin alone.
• The units: Keep the units printed on the report and check the units beside the entry field. Some fields offer a choice; others require a conversion.
• The date: Use the date of the measurement or sample collection, rather than the day you read or enter the report. Leave an unknown date blank.
• The method and conditions: Keep relevant details such as fasting, the exercise-test method, or a change in measurement technique.

Laboratories can use different units, methods, and reference ranges. Keeping the original report helps you and your clinician understand those differences.^[1]

If a result includes a “less than” or “greater than” sign, preserve it. It is not an exact measurement at the displayed boundary. The current numerical fields do not provide a place for these qualifiers. Keep the original report and seek clarification rather than entering the boundary as an exact result.

A new snapshot is not always a new measurement

Suppose you weigh yourself on October 1 and enter that result on October 3. The weight measurement still belongs to October 1. Saving the profile on October 3 does not make it a new weighing.

When you take another measurement, update both the value and its measurement date before saving a new snapshot. The weight date does not update automatically when you change the weight or save. Weight also has a separate date from waist and other body measurements. Different measurements in one profile may legitimately have different dates: today’s weight can sit alongside a blood test from several weeks ago.

For a home blood-pressure average, the date field refers to the last day of the readings used. Sleep and food records have optional dates for the end of the period described. Use the wording beside each date field to keep the record clear.

This distinction makes Trends more useful. Saving the same laboratory result again preserves another profile record; it does not establish another laboratory measurement.

Choose the next piece of information with a purpose

A useful gap is one that leads to a useful question. Before arranging an additional test, you might ask:

“Do I already have this result?”
“Would obtaining it change our understanding or next step?”
“Does it need a particular method or preparation?”
“When would repeating it be worthwhile?”

Your clinician can relate those questions to your symptoms, risk factors, diagnoses, and treatment. The testing service can explain access, preparation, costs, and insurance requirements for the proposed assessment.

You do not need to complete every field before the profile becomes useful. A few well-documented measurements and honest observations can give you a starting point. Further information can then answer specific questions rather than become a collection of numbers without a purpose.

Build a record you can return to

Keep original reports and review dates and units after entering them. The System keeps a working copy in your browser. Its backup features let you retain a separate file containing your profile, saved snapshots and saved Action Plan records. Keep your original laboratory reports separately; the backup contains entered information, not those documents.

Use “Download a copy” to save a backup file. Some browsers also support a connected file that can receive updates. Check the backup status and keep a current file before moving to another device. A snapshot saved inside the application is different from an exported backup.

The reward is continuity. You can see what you knew at an earlier point, add new information, and return to the areas that matter to you. Each useful measurement contributes to a clearer picture and a more focused next step. You can also explore the Healthspan approach to see how your profile fits into the wider picture of healthy aging.

Scope and validation

The profile helps organize selected health information and questions for follow-up. It does not replace a medical assessment. The sources below support the measurement guidance, not the System’s custom scores or priority rules, which have not been independently validated for clinical use. Missing information is not a poor result or, by itself, a reason to order a test.