When you think of breakdown normally you would associate MOT service with your four-wheel drive.

At Nuffield Health & Fitness Centre they have the same concept but a different approach. When Luisa and I first arrived at the club the body MOT seemed like a daunting experience but to my surprise the results were very accurate in my 14-page report.

In a brief conversation with head manager Lee Seamons, I asked him what they were trying to achieve by having the free MOT service at the centre.

Lee said: “The purpose and aim of the test is to ensure the members have full capacity to achieve overall good health by understanding the functioning of their internal health and from the test we’re able to provide a customised fitness plan.” During the one-hour examination health advisor Ian Chandler explained the full process which started with some basic height and weight measurements to determine my body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio which defines body composition.

As BMI and the amount of fat stored around the abdomen rise so does the risk of vascular disease as these changes are associated with unhealthy changes in other risk factors such as high blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol.

Moving forward with my inspection Ian took a look in detail at my blood pressure. It is quite obvious that you wouldn’t want your blood pressure to be too high nor to low, However Ian explained the two types of testing - the first is systolic which is the pressure in the arteries when the heart contracts and the second is the diastolic which is the pressure in the arteries when the heart relaxes between beats. I was happy to know that both of my systolic and diastolic blood pressure rates peaked in at a good level.

Nuffield Health has done extensive research into all areas of health and recommends regular cardiovascular exercise. Thirty minutes on most or all days of the week can reduce systolic blood pressure by 4-9 mmHg. After exercise blood pressure can be reduced by approximately 15 mmHg systolic/4 mmHg diastolic for up to 22 hours and so ideally exercise should be completed daily.

In addition to this I learnt about how blood glucose control can affect energy levels and the importance of maintaining energy levels for good performance and concentration.

I felt quite confident that my MOT was going well until a slightly negative result that crept up in my cholesterol. It was a slight shock to know that this discrepancy existed but Ian did explain that this part of the examination is tricky as cholesterol levels are hard to control and often go uncensored if people don’t have a thorough education on diet. Nevertheless it is a tricky one to keep balanced.

High levels of cholesterol increase the chance of fatty deposits building up in the artery walls leading to vascular diseases. The higher the level of cholesterol, the greater the risk. People with high levels of cholesterol have up to three times that of those with healthy cholesterol levels (Pescatello et al 2004).

In the latter part of the MOT, we discussed aerobic fitness, diet and overall health and wellbeing.

The results indicated that maybe more effort in zumba classes would have worked in my favour for my overall health score. To conclude I would say the MOT experience is an excellent way of understanding if your body is in healthy order… luckily for me, I passed!