What are the Key Signs that Your Health is Depleting?

For most of us, the loss of health is a tragically insidious process. Rarely is it a matter of going to bed feeling great and waking up chronically sick. Health loss over time is one of sciences greatest challenges, but having said that, loss of vitality and increased susceptibility to disease is usually preceded by well defined clues and markers.  What we are going to explore with this topic are the often-insidious indicators that precede the frank loss of health and vitality so often considered a normal part of aging. 

It is generally accepted that for the average North American (male or female) health status starts to decline in the third decade of life and then accelerates dramatically after one reaches the sixth or seventh. For most of us, loss of muscle mass and strength starts in the fourth decade and can reach up to 20% of your youthful maximum as you approach your 80’s. (This alone is often a pivotal factor in continued health and vitality as many of the building blocks for effective ongoing repair are found in lean muscle mass.)

As the above physiological phenomenon are consistently evidenced across the broad spectrum of humanity, at first blush, it would be easy to attribute them to being core features of human genetics. Simply put, as we get older, it seems accepted as normal to become more predisposed to physical breakdown and disease. For years, how effectively we aged was attributed to genetics, but is it? Some recent studies provide more clarity into the genesis of the far more monstrous component of age-related illness. According to the WHO, approximately 60% of disease is lifestyle related, with 80% of chronic disease and premature death deemed as preventable. The main culprits, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia, and cancer are all influenced by lifestyle choices. Now let’s role the scene back to the beginning. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 97% of all babies are born healthy. That means that essentially for everyone reading this article you were born without disease. This sounds great until you consider a statistic released by the CDC in 2022 revealing that 53.8% of people between the age of 18 and 30 suffer with at least one chronic condition. That means that one in two people in the prime of their lives are chronically sick. I assert that there is little or no genetics at fault at this stage of life. So, this begs the question what happened between 0 and 30 to result in over half of that population being inflicted with a resident disease? Here is the problem in a nutshell:  Every year, more of us are getting chronically ill and it is happening younger. What becomes more important to this writing is the fact that according to a study published in 2019 in “Science Daily”, genes account for less than 5% of the risk of developing a particular disease. So, where does the other 95% of chronic illness come from? In one form or another, it appears that when it comes to causation for most diseases (especially those associated with aging), by far the greatest offending contributors are lifestyle based, what you do, eat and think. So, this is where we are going to search for the less quantifiable indicators of deteriorating health, the ones that appear before you get sick. Before we examine keystone features indicating a depletion in health status, lets take a moment and examine more menacing signs and circumstances that require immediate attention due to the potential for life-altering outcomes.

The following “AI” overview from Google represents a comprehensive checklist of demonstrable signs and symptoms which indicate an existing or emerging concern in some facet of health status.

Some signs that your health may be requiring professional attention include:

• Changes in consciousness: Confusion, anxiety, restlessness, or sudden changes in mental status 

• Changes in breathing: Shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, or noisy breathing 

• Changes in temperature: A high fever (above 103°F) or a low temperature (35°C or below) 

• Changes in heart and circulation: Dizziness, feeling faint, chest pain, sweating, or changes in heart rate or pulse 

• Changes in skin: A rash, mottling, pallor, or blueish tinge to the lips 

• Changes in bowels: Diarrhea, vomiting, or a distended abdomen 

• Changes in urine: A change in the quantity, color, or smell of urine 

• Unexplained weight loss: Losing weight without trying 

• Swelling: Swelling in the legs that can't be attributed to an injury, which could be a sign of poor circulation, heart failure, kidney failure, or liver failure 

• Skin discolouration: Yellowing of the skin can be a sign of liver disease 

• Unexplained rash: An unusual rash that could be a sign of an internal infection or issue 

• Bone pain: Pain in the bones that feels like growing pains, which could be a sign of a vitamin D deficiency 

• Loss of appetite: A change in appetite, which could be a sign of depression or anxiety 

None of the above should ever be ignored as they are all causes for concern requiring immediate medical attention. Accepting that, let’s see if we can drill down a little deeper to what may precede the frank eruption of the above conditions and tease out the health detractors almost inevitably in play prior to the development of disease.

“There is a beginning to every problem and usually contained within it is found the solution,”

is a quote by Stanley Arnold which holds more than a measure of truth especially when applied to issues of health and disease. Life has taught me that it is far easier to fix a problem when it is coming at you rather than when it hits you smack in the face. So, lets look at some of the most common warning signs indicating that you may be heading into dangerous waters.

1. BMI (Body Mass Index) is now considered the gold standard for measuring your potential for weight related disease.  You can find user-friendly calculation tools on “Calculator.net” site. These tools do not calculate existing levels of fitness or muscle-to-fat ratios but do serve as a pretty good monitor to get a basic measure of where your ideal weight range should be. A healthy BMI is estimated to be between 18.5 and 24.9, overweight as 25 to 29.9, and obese as 30 and higher. Studies have found that a BMI higher than 25 increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer. According to research, even a slightly overweight status can begin to negatively impact your health over time. To give you a more concrete examples, Women who are overweight for more than 10 years have a nearly three-fold higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Carrying extra weight, especially around the waist, is a significant risk factor for high blood pressure and up to 78% of all cases of primary high blood pressure, meaning hypertension that doesn't result from some other underlying health condition, are due to obesity.

2. Feeling fatigued easily, experiencing shortness of breath or lack of energy/endurance during simple activities is often an indicator of more serious underlying problems. Other than what would be considered normal circumstances such as altitude or pregnancy, this could be a symptom of the following health concerns anemia, asthma, diabetes, heart conditions, lung disease such as infections and allergic reactions, COPD, poor conditioning such as with obesity, age related sarcopenia, disuse atrophy associated with a sedentary lifestyle, dehydration or nutritional deficiency.

3. High resting heart rate. As a rule, a resting heart rate of over 100bpm is considered problematic. This could reflect general deconditioning or more serious concerns such as heart disease, medication reactions, pathological stress, sleep disorders resulting in extreme fatigue. Other medical conditions such as anemia, high blood pressure, hyperthyroidism, and lung disease.

4. Consistent muscle soreness after minimal exertion with or without joint pain, and chronically hypertonic muscles can be signs of chronic conditions like fibromyalgia, arthritis, autoimmune diseases, vitamin deficiencies, overuse injuries, stress, poor sleep, infections (like the flu), medication side effects, or underlying metabolic issues such as hypothyroidism and electrolyte imbalances.

5. The impact of poor posture as a subtle indicator of emerging or existing disease or functional limitations is just starting to be understood. These range from pain, stiffness and loss of flexibility associated with deteriorating biomechanics , to the more subtle impact that negative postural alteration can have on the following: balance as a  factor in trips and falls, digestion in contributing to indigestion, heartburn and constipation, lung function as a cause of shortness of breath and reduced vital capacity, circulatory issues such as the development of varicose veins, and even the increased risk of stress incontinence.

6. Decreased performance in physical activities can be a demonstration of existing or emerging lung or cardiac dysfunction, anemia, dehydration, nutritional inadequacy such as seen with a vitamin A, C, D, and E or iron shortage. Also, carbohydrate and protein deficiencies can influence physical performance. Underlying psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, and emotional stress can all impact activity performance.

7. Sleep disturbances are among the most subtle detractors from health. Insufficient sleep increases the risk of serious medical conditions. Lack of adequate sleep over time has been associated with a shortened lifespan as a direct contributor to diabetes, heart disease, dementia, high blood pressure, psychiatric disorders and functional brain deterioration, impacts immune and neurological integrity.

8. Frequent injuries are not something that you would necessarily associate with deterioration of health status …but could they be? Frequent random injuries can be a symptom of dehydration, nutritional deficiency or side effect of some medications. They also can be associated with balance issues or cognitive decline. As one goes deeper into life, the expectation of injury related to a single, or multiple falls becomes almost exponential, most of which being related to reduced efficiencies in mobility.

9. Unusual or chronic irritability is more often that not, your mind telling you that there is something wrong with some aspect of your life or health. Everything from mental health conditions to substance abuse to life-threatening conditions such as tumors, cancer, meningitis, stroke or acute illness, ear infections, hormone changes, diabetes to Alzheimer’s can present with unusual or persistent irritability.

10. Decreased appetite has long been recognized as a harbinger of disease. Most notably, loss of the desire for food can be a symptom of anorexia, cancer, diabetes, dementia, infection, food poisoning, heart, lung, liver or kidney disease, HIV/AIDS.

There are certainly other less frequent indicators that health may be deteriorating, but hopefully the above list can serve as a valuable tool on your quest to maintain health and vitality.

In most if not all the above warning signs, there is planted the seeds for improvement and potential for resolution to the underlying cause of illness or disorder. In many cases it is all a time factor. The quicker the identification of a potential concern and steps taken to remedy it, the greater the likelihood for a successful resolution.

Next month, we will drill down to examine the real importance of activity to health.

About the Author: Dr. POOLEY has been in practice for over 46 years, is a former champion bodybuilder and author of the book the Un-Diet Diet.