Family History: Your family’s health history is important because it reflects inherited genetic susceptibility to specific health conditions, shared environmental factors, and common behaviours that may be risk factors. For example, if one or both of your parents had heart disease, your personal risk for developing cardiovascular problems is significantly increased.

Similarly, environmental factors, such as the presence of cigarette smoke due to a family member smoking, will increase the risk of you and your siblings developing some form of lung condition later on in life.

Common behaviours are also risk factors. If your parents cooked and ate very large, fatty meals, for example, you may well do the same. Similarly, if they were couch potatoes, your activity level is likely to be lower than if you were encouraged to join the family on outdoor recreational pursuits.

To what degree do your genes affect your health and ultimate longevity? The answer—by 30 percent—is lower than previously believed. Even identical twins who have reached the age of 70 are no more likely to die of the same disease as any other two people.

On pages 10 to 12, we have outlined the risk factors and lifestyle elements that contribute to the development of the major health conditions affecting Canadians: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, rthritis and osteoporosis, and what can be done to ameliorate the risk you stand of developing these conditions.

Lifestyle: How you conduct your life—what you eat, how much physical activity you build in, how much sleep you get, how you manage stress, and whether or not you smoke or consume alcohol all impact your capacity for wellness. Simple changes, like getting to bed earlier and taking two 15-minute walks a day can make a world of difference to your health and the way you manage stress. Here are the ideal lifestyle factors for a longer, healthier life:

• Regular physical activity including an aerobic activity such as brisk walking, dancing, hiking or running, and an activity that helps sustain/build muscle mass and bone density such as weight training.
• Getting a minimum seven hours sleep every night.
• Stopping smoking if you are a smoker, or staying away from second-hand smoke if you are not.
• Making sure you eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean protein such as fish, chicken, beans, tofu or a quality protein mix. Ensuring you limit your intake of red meats, processed meats and overly processed convenience foods. Making sure your diet contains healthy fats, i.e. omega-3 fatty acids found in flax and fish oils. (London Naturals supplements, found in the pharmacy, include a full range of omega-3 fatty acid supplements.)
• If you consume alcohol, reducing your intake to the equivalent of one glass of wine daily (women) or two glasses of wine (men).

Your waist measurement: Close to 50 percent of Canadians aged 20 to 54 are overweight. Approximately one quarter of Canadians are defined as obese. For adults, a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or more has traditionally indicated overweight and an increased risk of developing health problems; a BMI of 30 or more indicates obesity and a high to extremely high risk of developing health complications related to excess weight. (Body mass index is defined as a person’s body weight divided by the square of his or her height.)

A study published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, suggested that using the BMI as a predictor of potential disease may not be as accurate as using a person’s waist measurement. This is because a person’s BMI does not distinguish between fatty tissue and lean muscle tissue. In other words, a body heavy with fat and a body heavy with muscle could have the same BMI, yet one would have little risk of developing disease and the other a far greater risk.

Fat in the abdominal area is a far greater predictor of health risk than fat that accumulates on other parts of the body, such as the hip and thigh area in women. (This applies even if your BMI falls within the normal range.) People with mid-section fat are more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease and related conditions such as high blood pressure, stroke and type 2 diabetes. Abdominal fat also increases the risk for certain cancers including those of the breast and colon. Your risk of developing these life-threatening diseases is further increased if you choose to smoke.

To accurately measure your waistline, place a tape measure around your bare midriff, just above your hipbone. Make sure it sits firmly in place, but don’t pull it so tight that an indentation forms. Don’t suck your stomach in. Men with a waist measurement greater than 102 centimeters (40 inches) and women with a waist measurement in excess of 88 centimeters (35 inches) are considered obese and at greater risk of developing the diseases mentioned above.

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