3 Tests Every Woman Needs to Take

Test 2: Blood Pressure

Heart disease is the number-one killer of women, yet when it comes to blood pressure – a major contributor to heart disease – so many people continue to go unchecked and undiagnosed. Healthy arteries are vital for transporting blood through your heart and to the rest of your body. Above-normal pressure puts too much force on your arteries, and can lead to arterial damage, including weakening, scarring, risk of plaque build-up and blood clots, and overall coronary artery disease. High blood pressure is associated with the development of life-threatening conditions such as stroke, kidney failure, and type 2 diabetes. An ideal blood pressure reading should be 115/75; anything over 140/90 is considered hypertension, while prehypertension is any reading in between.

Medicinal and all-natural options exist to lower your blood pressure. Try taking Coenzyme Q10, also known as CoQ10 or ubiquinone. It’s an over-the-counter supplement that helps maintain healthy blood vessels. Taking 200 mg per day has been demonstrated in studies to help reduce blood pressure. You should also add more garlic to your diet. Eating at least 1 clove a day may lower your blood pressure and slow the hardening of the arteries.

Test 3: Blood Test for Glucose and Cholesterol

This painless, finger-prick blood test measures both your blood sugar levels and cholesterol. The best part? You don’t have to fast beforehand!

If you haven’t eaten within a couple hours, your blood sugar levels should be between 70 and 100. A measure of 100-125 is considered prediabetic, and 126 means you’ve got diabetes. If you’ve eaten recently and your blood sugar level reads above 200, it also places you among the 80 million Americans living with diabetes. And as the sugar builds up in your body due to insulin resistance, it acts like shards of glass, scraping away at the walls of your arteries, leaving them severely weakened.