What numbers are closest to your heart? Your child's birthday? Your wedding anniversary? Your one-rep-max bench press? All right, now we'll tell you which ones should be closest to your heart—and in a literal sense already are: LDL and HDL cholesterol, blood pressure, fasting glucose, C-reactive protein (CRP), and resting heart rate. Collectively, these are your vital signs. It's vital you know them, and if they aren't optimal, it's vital they improve—fast. And that brings us to another number: 5.
"I think a hell of a lot could change in five weeks," says David Katz, M.D., an associate professor of public health at Yale University. "You could drop your blood pressure by 10 points. You could drop cholesterol as much as 20 percent." Same goes for the other life-and-death digits. In fact, start our plan now, and in just over a month you'll hold a set of winning numbers you won't find on any lottery ticket.
Gauge your gains
Before you begin, have your blood pressure measured; request blood work, being sure to ask for a "high-sensitivity" CRP test; and buy a heart-rate monitor—we like the Polar F11 ($160). After five weeks, check your vitals again.
Vital Sign #1: Cholesterol
Whereas many doctors like to describe LDL cholesterol as "gunk," we found one who prefers a more incendiary image: "LDL represents the arsonists, and HDL represents the fire department," says Roger Blumenthal, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease. "And a good fire department can usually prevent any long-lasting damage." Your goal: LDL lower than 130 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) and HDL higher than 40 mg/dl.
Reinvent breakfast. Start your day with something besides razor burn. Instead, down an 8-ounce glass of juice that's half orange and half white grapefruit. The sour stuff is loaded with the flavonoid naringin, which Korean researchers found can lower LDL levels by as much as 17 percent. As for the OJ, it can boost HDL (by as much as 21 percent, if you drink three glasses daily). Next, mix crushed walnuts into yogurt or drop them on cereal; a new study in Angiology says that eating walnuts can raise HDL by 9 percent. Finally, swap your morning coffee for tea. USDA researchers found that drinking tea can cut LDL by 11 percent.
Vital Sign #2: Blood pressure
Every hose has its bursting point, and your blood vessels are no different. But even if you avoid a messy blowout—i.e., a hemorrhagic stroke—hypertension can still level a hit. "It puts people at risk of heart attacks, heart failure, and kidney failure," says Paul Thompson, M.D., a cardiologist at Hartford Hospital, in Connecticut. Try to hold your BP below 120/80 millimeters of mercury (mmHg).
Handle life's headaches. There may be no bigger pain in the cranium than a crazed work environment. To keep it from raising your BP, vent to your wife or girlfriend every evening; a new Canadian study shows that when work-stressed subjects received support from their partners, their systolic pressure dropped an average of 2.5 mmHg. After you're finished, take two aspirin. Spanish researchers recently found that hypertensive people who took 162 mg aspirin before bed decreased their systolic pressure by 6.8 mmHg and their diastolic by 4.6 mmHg. (Check with your doctor first.) Last step before you sleep: Pray. New research shows that men who pray frequently have 3.5 percent lower diastolic BP than once-in-a-while worshippers.
Vital Sign #3: Resting heart rate
Your life isn't in your hands—it's in your heart. "Resting heart rate is one of the better predictors of longevity," says Dr. Thompson. In a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, men whose resting heart rates were above 75 beats per minute (bpm) were three times more likely to die of a heart attack than those with lower rates. Aim for 65 bpm.
Keep your ticker guessing. "If you do cardio training at lower intensity and add higher intensity once or twice a week, your resting heart rate will drop," says Neal Henderson, C.S.C.S., sports-science coordinator at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. Train for a half hour at 60 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate three times a week—but on one day, pick a random point and run (or bike) to it as fast as you can. Return at a slower pace, so it takes twice as long to get back to the start. Choose a new point, either nearer or farther, for your second sprint and make the return trip in the same manner as before. Repeat to fatigue. To do this on a treadmill, run at your fastest speed for 0.2 mile, then lower the speed by half and jog 0.2 mile. Repeat, alternating between 0.4, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.2 mile until you're tired.
Vital Sign #4: Fasting glucose
Your fasting glucose level is your diabetes meter: As it rises, so does your risk of developing the disease. "Diabetes leads to devastating consequences—an elevated risk of heart disease, kidney disease, and eye damage," says Jonathan Samet, M.D., a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins. Worse, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that those with glucose levels over 140 mg/dl—40 mg/dl above normal—have a 29 percent higher risk of dying of cancer.
Develop your sensitive side. To lower your fasting glucose, you need to improve your body's ability to utilize blood sugar, a.k.a. your insulin sensitivity. And the best way to do that is by losing weight—and lifting some. At the same time, supplement with conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Canadian researchers noted that people who popped 4 grams of CLA daily had a 27 percent jump in insulin sensitivity after just eight weeks. For an extra boost, replace 600 calories in your diet with a Hershey's Extra Dark chocolate bar; according to a new Italian study, this can quadruple insulin sensitivity in two weeks.
Vital Sign #5: C-reactive protein
Lower your CRP and you may never need CPR. That's because elevated CRP is often a sign of arterial inflammation—and heart disease. CRP is up there with cholesterol as a predictor of heart problems, says Barbara Nicklas, Ph.D., a professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest University. High CRP—over 1 milligram per liter—has also been linked to another mankiller: prostate cancer.
Neutralize it with nutrients. Swallow the tag-team treatment of vitamin C and magnesium. University of California at Berkeley researchers recently showed that taking a daily 500 mg vitamin C supplement can decrease CRP levels by 24 percent. And according to a new study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, people low on magnesium are up to two times more likely to have elevated CRP levels than those meeting their quota. If you want a healthy dose of both nutrients, pick up GNC Men's Mega Men.