Tape measure for measuring health

  

Belly problems << >> What is inside?

Since it became known that inner abdominal fat is more dangerous for health than the fat deposits under the skin, body weight has lost some of its importance.

Especially the BMI, which for many years was regarded as the measure of all things when it came to judging the figure, is now very controversial. The BMI can be used to assess weight in relation to body height. However, it is not possible to judge whether the weight consists of muscles or fat.

Furthermore, the BMI cannot be used to assess whether any excess weight accumulates in the abdominal cavity or in harmless areas.

This is why it is becoming increasingly popular to determine overweight on the basis of the waist circumference.

Not only personal recommendations of the doctors are made partly from finally on the basis of the waist circumference. Even insurance contributions, jobs and immigration permits sometimes depend on the waist circumference.

To measure the waist circumference, you only need a tape measure.

How To measure waist circumference:

Measure in the morning after the first visit to the toilet and before breakfast.

Measure about 2 cm (1 in) above the navel.

Exhale slightly before measuring, but not too much. The stomach should not be retracted.

The measured values are officially assessed as follows:

WomenMenResult
over 80 cm
over 32 in
over 94 cm
over 37 in
belly is a risk factor
over 88 cm
over 35 in
over 102 cm
over 40 in
significantly increased risk

However, recent studies, including a heart study from San Antonio, suggest that the 88 cm (35 in) may be a too strict limit for women.

Criticism of waist circumference as the measure of all things

Measuring waist circumference is valuable for an approximate health risk assessment. The measurement of the waist circumference is also suitable for a follow-up if the customer's success is to be traced.

However, in order to exclude people or dilute them to higher contributions, the sole evaluation of the waist circumference is rather unsuitable.

The waist circumference alone does not tell you exactly how much unhealthy inner abdominal fat is actually present. No distinction is made between internal and harmless external abdominal fat and other components of the abdomen are also ignored.

In addition, body height is not taken into account, nor is the relationship to other areas of the body, such as the hip.

Only a computer tomography offers an exact assessment of the internal abdominal fat. In the images of the computer tomograph, the internal abdominal fat can be seen as it surrounds the organs.

Otherwise, a more meaningful result can be achieved by combining several measured values than with the waist circumference alone.

waist-hip ratio

The waist-to-hip ratio includes not only the waist circumference but also the circumference of the hip in its assessment.

This helps to differentiate between internal and external abdominal fat, because those who have a lot of external abdominal fat usually also have a lot of fat on their hips.

If the waist circumference is large in relation to the hip, then this speaks for increased inner abdominal fat.

With a normal ratio between waist circumference and hip circumference, one can assume that the abdominal fat sits rather under the skin. That would indicate that it is rather harmless.

This is how you determine the waist-hip ratio:

Measure the waist circumference about 2 cm (1 in) above the navel.

Measure the hip circumference at the thickest point of the item.

Calculate the waist-hip ratio using the following formula:

Waist-Hip-Ratio = Waist / Hip

The measured values are evaluated as follows:

WomenMenResult
less than 0.8less than 0.9normal waist
0.8 to 0.840.9 to 1.0widened waist
more than 0.84more than 1.0apple-shaped overweight

The waist-hip ratio also plays an important role in aesthetics.

Women with a waist-hip ratio of 0.7 are perceived as particularly well-shaped.

It doesn't matter how thick the woman is overall. It's all in the ratio.

Body fat distribution pattern index

In the body fat distribution pattern index, waist circumference and hip circumference are also offset against each other. However, the waist circumference is considered stronger than the hip circumference.

This is how the body fat distribution pattern index is calculated:

BFDI = Waist * Waist / Hip

The measured values are evaluated as follows:

WomenMenResult
less than 60less than 75normal
61 to 7476 to 84heightened risk
more than 75more than 85great risk

Waist-to-Height Ratio - Waist-to-Size Ratio

The waist-size ratio is a rather unknown method of assessing body measurements.

With this method, waist circumference and body height are offset against each other. Who is bigger, may have more waist circumference than smaller people according to this calculation method.

Age is also taken into account here. The older you are, the larger the waist circumference may be. Surprisingly, however, no distinction is made between men and women, although men generally have significantly larger waist circumferences than women.

A study of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich has revealed a close connection between the waist-size ratio and cardiovascular diseases.

This study examined 10,000 participants. However, the BMI and waist-hip ratio were not significantly related to the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. Only the waist-size ratio played a recognizable role.

To determine the waist-size ratio, the waist circumference is divided by the body size.

To determine the waist-size ratio:

Measure the waist circumference.

Measure your height.

Calculate according to the following formula:

WSR = waist / body-height

The measured values are considered acceptable up to the following values:

younger than 4040 to 50older than 50
0.50.5 - 0.60.6


Belly problems << >> What is inside?


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