Learning To Know Your Body With DEXA Scan

After having two children in 3 years, and breastfeeding for most of that time my body isn’t what it used to be. I’m trying to eat more healthily, but with disturbed sleep by a teething toddler and up at 4 am for work 3 mornings a week, sometimes I need that sugar boost. Normally in the way of chocolate. I would love to learn and know more about my body. Knowing your body is important for your health.

Measuring your body composition by DEXA Scan will let you know how much and where you have body fat. So you can arrange a fitness plan based around the results. DEXA Scan is used by athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and dieters as a tool to help them achieve their goal.

So what is a Dexa Scan and how it works?

A DEXA scan, or dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, use x-ray technology to determine the distribution of lean muscle, fat, water and bone in your body.

It all works by passing two safe and very low dose x-ray beams at differing energy levels through the tissues of the body. The amount of radiation that passes through the tissue is measured by a detector. The computer then determines how much of your tissue is muscle fat water or bone and where it’s all stored. It’s an easy process that doesn’t hurt at all, lucky I studied health physics at college!

The body composition DEXA scan produces very accurate results and takes around 7 minutes to complete. You will receive and understand your results on the same day of your scan at DEXA scan to know your body.

Know your body

You can expect these types of results for your body:

• Total body bone mineral density
• Total body muscle mass
• Total body fat mass
• Total body bone mass
• Total body fat percentage
• Muscle and fat mass in the trunk
• Muscle and fat mass in your right and left arm
• Muscle and fat mass in your right and left leg
• Central abdominal fat measurement

Uses for your body

DEXA helps you monitor your weight loss progress, it helps bodybuilders to monitor muscle gain or loss. Athletes use the scan to pick up muscle asymmetries between their left and right sides. Especially in sports where your body favours one side, like shot put.

DEXA Bone Density

The DEXA Bone Density scan measures how strong your bones are. It does this by two X-ray beams; one high energy and one low energy. It will measure the X-rays that pass through the bone from each beam. This will vary depending on how thick your bone is. Based on the difference between the two beams, the machine determines your bone density.

It’s mainly used to identify osteoporosis, a condition that causes a decrease in the density of bones resulting in fragility and to determine a person’s risk for developing fractures.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you’ve found this post useful as always.

You can catch up with my other health related posts here.

*This is a collaborative post