Employers and self-employed people often do not take time to have the recommended health checks that could save their lives. The Body Check personal health and lifestyle screening kit is one attempt to solve this problem.
It comprises a digital blood-pressure monitor, a cholesterol testing kit, a urine glucose testing kit, a digital stopwatch, a measuring tape, two software discs and a 12-page instruction manual, all in a compact seven-inch square zipped bag. The user must have a PC with windows and a printer.
The urine glucose kit comprises two plastic cups, a colour code chart and two glucose detection strips, the blood pressure unit, an inflatable cuff, two tubes and a rubber pump.
You also record your height, waist and hip measurements and your weight using an ordinary bathroom scales.
The final test is the cholesterol screening procedure for which the kit comprises test strips, four plastic lancets, two swabs and a colour card.
When you have inputted your results onto the software, you print out individual reports, for instance on cardiovascular risk analysis, stress and coping skills or cholesterol. Alternatively, you could print out the full report. Unfortunately, you cannot read the reports on screen, although you can read a brief summary. You are not forewarned how many pages any report will be and you cannot download the report to another programme.
The reports could help people understand more about their health. Body Check aims to educate, create awareness, provide a personal evaluation of health and lifestyle risks and provide an ongoing monitoring mechanism. But for people who are reasonably knowledgeable about health matters, much of the reports' educational material may not be needed. The on-screen diet questionnaire should have a definition of "servings" which users must read before proceeding, while the food categories given ought to make more explicit where to record certain foods.
The digital stopwatch has many uses and it is certainly no bad thing to have a blood pressure testing kit in any office or home, which, combined with the cholesterol kit, could provide a life-saving wakeup call to someone heading for a heart attack.
The Body Check kit costs £119.99 (€152.36) inclusive of VAT, delivery and telephone support. It is available from Health & Lifestyle Screening Ltd, Dublin Road, Ashbourne, Co Meath.
