Which of your body numbers matter at your age?

Your list, sortedworked example

0 to act on · 4 to track · 3 to screen

This sorts body metrics by how often the bodies that publish screening guidance suggest checking them, and moves anything you say you are already working on to the top. It is a way of ordering a list — not an assessment of your health, and not a recommendation to do anything.

Your age

Sex (optional)

Only used where a guideline itself differs by sex.

Pregnant or trying to conceiveAdds the pregnancy-specific rows.

Anything you are actively working on?

Anything a clinician is already monitoring?

Their judgement outranks every default on this page.

Everything you type here is computed in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored on a server, sent anywhere, or shared — there is no account and no health data to leak.

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Track

Worth re-taking more often than the rest, given what you told us. This is what the Numbers Log is for.

A1C (blood glucose)
The ADA sets 35 as the age at which screening is recommended for all adults, so from here it is a number worth having and keeping.
As often as your clinician tests it — the measurement itself covers about three months · American Diabetes Association — Standards of Care, Screening and Diagnosis
Blood pressure
Measured blood pressure tends to drift upward with age, so the trend becomes more informative than any single reading from your forties onward.
Quarterly, or as often as your clinician asked · US Preventive Services Task Force — Hypertension in Adults: Screening
Resting heart rate
Resting heart rate is free to measure, needs no appointment, and its own trend over months is more informative than any single figure.
Quarterly, measured the same way each time · Zhang et al., Resting heart rate and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: a meta-analysis, CMAJ 2016;188(3):E53-E63
Weekly moderate activity minutes
The WHO 2020 guidelines set a weekly range for adults, which makes this a number you accumulate rather than one you are measured for.
Weekly in your head, quarterly on the card · WHO Guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour (2020)

Screen

Checked periodically by most adults, according to the bodies named beside each one. Not something to watch weekly.

Daily protein target
The DRI sets a population reference intake rather than something to be tested for, so this is a figure to know once and revisit if your circumstances change.
Work it out once; recalculate if your weight or activity changes materially · Bauer et al., Evidence-based recommendations for optimal dietary protein intake in older people (PROT-AGE), JAMDA 2013
Energy needs (TDEE)
An estimate rather than a measurement, and one that shifts with weight and activity, so it is worth recomputing occasionally rather than watching.
Recompute when your weight or activity changes noticeably · Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al., A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure, Am J Clin Nutr 1990;51(2):241-247
Waist-to-height ratio
NICE recommends waist-to-height ratio alongside BMI, using the plain rule of keeping your waist to less than half your height. It needs only a tape measure.
Annually is plenty · NICE guideline NG246 — Overweight and obesity management

Once you know which numbers are yours to watch, the Numbers Log is where they go — one page, four times a year. Every cadence above links the body that published it, and all of them are listed on the methodology page.

This sorts body metrics into screen, track and act using the checking intervals that named bodies such as the USPSTF, the ADA and NICE actually publish, plus whatever you say you are already working on. It orders a list for you; it does not assess your health or recommend anything.

A1C assay tolerance (NGSP certification) — certified assays agree with the reference method within about +/- 0.5 percentage points. Verified 2026-07-30 against NGSP - certification criteria for A1C methods (This is the certification limit for the method, not a confidence interval for one person's result.)

Everything you type here is computed in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored on a server, sent anywhere, or shared — there is no account and no health data to leak.

No ads on this page, by design.

Frequently asked questions

Is this medical advice?

No, and the distinction matters. Every interval shown comes from a named body with a link to its guidance, and the tool groups metrics by those intervals. It does not assess your risk, set a target, or tell you to do anything, all of which need a clinician who can see your history.

Where do the screening intervals come from?

Each row names its source: the USPSTF for blood-pressure screening, the ADA for A1C screening from age 35, NICE for waist-to-height, the WHO 2020 guidelines for weekly activity, and the DRI and PROT-AGE for protein. All are dated on the methodology page.

Why does something move to act when I tick it?

Because your situation outranks a population default. If you say you are working on a metric, or that a clinician is monitoring it, that is better information than any age rule, so it goes to the top of the list regardless of what the rules say.

Why so few numbers?

Because a list of thirty is a list nobody uses. The premise is that most people should be attending to two or three numbers at a time, and the point of sorting them is to make the rest ignorable with a clear conscience.

Does it store my answers?

Only your age and sex, and only if you choose to save them as My Basics so other calculators can pre-fill. That stays in this browser. The tick-boxes are not stored at all.

Get a quarterly nudge to re-check your numbers

Four emails a year: a reminder to re-take your numbers, and what changed in the guidance behind these tools. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Double opt-in: you will get one confirmation email and nothing else until you click it.

The next number

No body metric means much on its own. Here is what this one feeds into.

My Numbers LogOnce you know which ones are yours, this is where they live.

Related calculators

My Numbers LogThe method A1C calculatorGlycemic markers

Every formula on this page is listed with its source on the methodology page, and changes to any reference value are logged in the data changelog. Canonical URL: https://myhealthmywellness.com/which-numbers-matter