Body and Health

Height and Weight

Metric measurements are used in Britain for health records. Since metric is easy for calculation, it offers a lot of advantages to help understand things like healthy body mass or medicine dosage. However, due to the lack of a clean, complete transition to metric, many health care professionals have been fed up with asking for information in imperial and always refer to conversion charts when dealing with the public.

Try weighing yourself in kilograms and measuring your height in metres. Most humans weigh between 1 and 120 kg. A seven month premature baby might weigh about 1 kg. A normal baby weighs on average 3.5 kg. Many basketball players are two metres tall. The statistics on some well known sports personalities are given below:

	Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova 1.73 m 56 kg
	Former England rugby captain Martin Johnson 2.00 m 119 kg
	Heavyweight Boxer Danny Williams 1.91 m 120 kg
	David Beckham 1.82 m 74 kg
	Ashia Hansen 1.70 m 63 kg

Obesity and Body Mass Index

Obesity is a rapidly growing health problem in the UK. Even if you are not obese it is good to understand whether you are in a healthy size range or not. Body Mass Index (BMI) is the most commonly used indication for healthy weight.

Nearly all British scales include kilogram displays. If your scales have a digital display, there will be a switch underneath that allows you to select metric. Make a note of your weight, and use that for comparison with subsequent measurements. Calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI) and keep a record of your weight (in kg, of course!)

Your BMI is calculated by dividing your mass (weight) in kilograms by the square of your height in metres. You can evaluate your BMI easily with a calculator as follows:

1. Enter your weight in kilograms
2. Divide your weight by your height in metres
3. Divide the result by your height a second time
4. The result is your Body Mass Index.

If your BMI is:

• less than 20 you are underweight
• between 20 and 25 you are normal weight
• above 25 you are overweight
• above 30 you are obese

If your BMI is 30 and you wish to have a BMI of 24, you will need to lose 20% of your weight.