Children’s health has taken a significant turn for the worse!

• Age: Along the years, it is clearly verified that blood pressure readings increase progressively, especially the systolic pressure. For this reason, hypertension is more frequent among adults and elders than among youngsters.
• Sex: At early ages (before 35-40 years old), hypertension is more frequent among males, whereas after 65-70 years old is more frequent among females.
• Consumption of salt in the diet: On different geographical areas it has been observed a strong relation between the consumption of salt and hypertension. However, many studies have shown that the response of blood pressure to the consumption of salt depends on each person, and it appears that the importance of this factor is conditioned by genetic mechanisms and by the capacity of the kidney to process the sodium. In any case, it is widely accepted that an exaggerated ingestion of sodium (more than 8-10 grams a day) is one of the elements more directly related to hypertension.
• Excess weight: Being overweight presents a high relationship with blood pressure levels in all the populations studied. It is not strange then that hypertension is more frequent in obese persons than in those having a normal body mass index.

Other: Other elements that have been related to hypertension are the stress, the kind of life, the kind of job, the professional status, the geographic altitude, the high consumption of alcohol, the composition of the water consumed daily, the noise in your environment, and some hereditary factors.

Hypertension is a disease that has become more relevant in recent years, especially since statistics have proved the dramatic consequences of a continuous rise in blood pressure.

The measurement of the blood pressure is an extremely important element in the prevention and control of the hypertension.

A person is considered to suffer from hypertension when their blood pressure readings go over the limit of the normal values. Here are the recommended values and hypertension levels according to the World Health Organization:

Blood pressure is considered a good indicator of the condition of the cardiovascular system, because it is one of the physiological variables that can be measured with great convenience. A clinical history of the blood pressure readings has saved many people from a premature death by warning of hypertension with enough anticipation to carry out a treatment. The blood pressure is measured by two parameters:

• The maximum systolic pressure corresponds to the peak of pressure applied by the blood to the walls of the blood vessels when pumped by the heart.
• The minimum diastolic pressure is the minimum pressure applied by the blood to the walls of the blood vessels when the ventricles relax.

The Health Kiosk not only measure the weight, height and blood pressure of the user but can also calculate the body mass index and estimate the body fat of the user. The references on the ticket will determine if any course of action is necessary.

If the measurements are made under the same circumstances (similar clothes, same time of the day, etc.) the evolution of the results will allow you to take the best decisions for your wellbeing.

When dieting the amount of calories is reduced, the human body tends to consume the calories accumulated in the muscles since the ones brought by the food are not enough. The result is a loss of muscular mass and of water, but not of fat mass. Therefore the percentage of body fat in respect of the total mass will increase. When this happens, the doctor will correct the habits of the patient so that the loss of mass is in the same proportion for all kinds of tissues. On top of the correct diet, he will surely recommend the patient to increase their physical exercise to stimulate the muscles and also to control the level of hydration. A periodical measurement of the body fat will help to minimise this effect.

The human body takes some time to get used to a new diet, so it is advisable to take a 2-3 week control period before confirming if there is a loss of muscular mass and/or hydration, as well as whether the fat mass decreases or not, before making any changes in the programmed diet.

• On the same day: Like blood pressure, the hydration level varies all through the day. The normal hydration cycle is the following: During sleep, the extracellular fluid and the blood flows to the internal organs, far from the extremities. This would cause an increase of the impedance. When you are awake, the blood and the extracellular fluids flow all over the body and the extremities have a higher hydration. For this reason, the best time for the body fat measurement is 3 or 4 hours alter having woken up, when the fluids flow with higher activity all over the body. Do not forget that hydration may be affected by the diet.
• On several days: From one day to another, it is possible that the measurement of the body composition suffers slight variations. This is why it is strongly advised to compare the results of the measurements made during 3-4 weeks to determine whether the changes respond to a tendency or are spontaneous.
• Conclusion: Making the measurement at the same hour every day and observing the recommendations above for a period of several weeks will offer consistent and repetitive results, which will allow the determination of the method to follow if a weight control program appears to be necessary.

The observation of the conditions above is the only way to ensure an accurate result of the BIA, and that it will not be affected by the changes in the level of hydration of the person.

In normal conditions, the total amount of water in the body is 55-65% of their total weight, according to the physical condition of the person, their sex and their level of hydration. The BIA measuring method does not measure the percentage of water in the body, but this percentage affects the impedance and therefore the percentage of body fat can be determined.

To get the most accurate result when calculating the body fat percentage, it is advised to comply the following conditions:

• Not to have drank alcohol 48 hours before the measurement.
• Not to have done any intense physical activities 12 hours before the measurement.
• Not to have had food or beverages containing caffeine 4 hours before the measurement.
• To have urinated 30 minutes before the measurement.
• As long as possible, not to have taken diuretics 7 days before the measurement.
• The measurement should be carried out at least 3 hours after waking up.

It must be taken into account that the hydration of the user may be affected if he suffers from a disease, and therefore affect the result of the measurement.

In general, the value of the impedance increases when the user suffers from dehydration. Note also that when a person increases their weight after ingesting a lot of liquid, the impedance will decrease. The water and the electrolytes present in the human body act as conductors of a low current passing through the body. If this passage suffers any alteration, it will be reflected as variations of the impedance.

By means of the Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). This technique is based on the fact that non fat human tissues contain water and therefore are good conductors of electricity. The fat tissues contain less water and conduct less electricity. We send a low energy and high frequency electrical current (50 Khz, 500 microampers) from one contact of the Health Kiosk unit going through the body of the user and we measure the loss of voltage (impedance) when arriving at the other contact. We know that there is a direct relationship between the impedance and the volume of the conductor, so we can estimate the amount of water in the body, of the non fat mass and finally of the body fat. The estimation of the body fat percentage is the result of applying several formulae combining the impedance with the weight and height as well as the indication of age and gender of the user.

The BMI, even if it is a useful tool to control your weight, it cannot predict the body composition of the person, but can offer a closer approach of their health status. Sometimes a person can lose weight, reducing the BMI but increasing the % of body fat. The calculation of the BMI together with the body composition will give a better approach of the health status of that person.

The result of the above depicted formula gives you the value of the BMI and its evaluation is the following:

Example:
Suppose a person was 1.70 m high and weighed 90 kg. Her BMI would be:
According to the table above, this result shows the person to be overweight with a moderate cardiac risk.

The BMI is calculated by dividing the weight in kilograms by the height in metres squared:

The normal weight of a person is determined by the Body Mass Index (BMI). This method is widely used by doctors all over the world.

Being overweight can impact on cholesterol and blood sugar levels increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.