Men: Your Waist Size is a Big Indicator of Health

The inches around your waist should be no more than half your total height.

Men and women battle different fat demons. Men usually have it accumulate around the waist, while women have problems in the thighs and rear end.

One thing I get a little jealous about is when guys are just naturally thin in the waist. But even the best of them lose that advantage with age. I’ve always been pretty naturally thin, but when I let myself go even a little, the only thing that is natural is the mid-section bulge that comes with slacking on my nutrition and exercise.

It doesn’t take a ton of weight gain around the waist to start inching toward serious health risks. So what’s the best way to tell? A great way is to check your waist size.

Most men start to develop risk factors for heart disease and other diseases with a waist size above 40 inches. Other health problems that can develop include:

– Stroke
– Some types of cancer
– Type 2 diabetes
– Insulin resistance
– High triglycerides
– Low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good,” cholesterol
– Metabolic syndrome
– Sleep apnea

Time is not your friend. As you age, you have to work even harder to keep the weight off. And while there may be some minor help in form of supplementation, there’s no escaping the simplicity of what needs to be done to achieve a healthy waistline: reduce calories and increase your physical activity level.

Michael Jensen, M.D., an endocrinology specialist, gives some more detail over at the Mayo Clinic’s website, answering questions and giving some common sense advice centering around the battle of the mid-section bulge.