How well are you protecting your heart? These blood values show you
The essentials at a glance
Five values show you where your cardiovascular system currently stands: LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and long-term blood sugar HbA1c come from your blood, while blood pressure comes from your own measurement. No single value by itself says “healthy” or “ill.” Only together do they provide a picture that can be acted on.
Four of these values are laboratory values; one is not. A blood test does not measure blood pressure. If you want to know where you stand, you therefore need two things: a blood sample and an upper-arm monitor. Together, they do not replace a medical examination, but they make the next conversation more specific.
The article begins with ten questions about your everyday life. Each question is followed by the value behind it, along with its reference limit and source. If you are only looking for the figures, skip to the overview in Chapter 6. If you want to know when a value no longer matters, read Chapter 5 first.
What to expect in this article
1. What the heart and circulatory system cost each year
2. Ten questions about your everyday life
3. Five factors that explain half
4. What these values have in common
5. When not to measure, but to call
6. The five values at a glance
7. How to read LDL, HDL, and triglycerides together
8. HbA1c: the blood sugar memory
9. Who can benefit from the check
10. Which tests measure the values as well
11. Limitations: what the figures cannot tell you
12. What to do with the figures
Frequently asked questions
Sources
What the heart and circulatory system cost each year
Some figures stay with you after you read them once. This is one of them. In 2024, around 1.01 million people died in Germany, and the most common cause of death was diseases of the circulatory system, with 339,212 cases. This was reported by the Federal Statistical Office in its press release No. 377 from 2025.
The same report cites a second figure that is quoted less often. Diseases of the circulatory system and malignant neoplasms together accounted for 56.5 percent of all deaths, meaning more than half. Among circulatory diseases, which include heart attacks and strokes, there was a slight decline of 2.6 percent compared with the previous year. Federal Statistical Office, 2025.
You cannot infer anything about an individual person from a statistic. It says nothing about what will happen to you, and it is not a prediction. What it does is something else: It explains why so many figures are cited on this particular topic and why a medical practice asks about them before you think of them yourself.
339 212
Deaths from diseases of the circulatory system in Germany in 2024. Federal Statistical Office, 2025.
5
Risk factors are considered responsible for at least half of all cardiovascular diseases worldwide. German Society of Cardiology, 2026.
150–300
Minutes of moderate endurance activity per week recommended for adults by the World Health Organization, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity. WHO, 2020.
under 5 g
Salt per day for adults, just under one teaspoon. This corresponds to less than 2,000 mg of sodium. WHO, 2026.
Ten questions about your everyday life
Answer the following ten questions with yes or no. There is no score and no final assessment telling you which category you fall into. That would be a diagnosis, and no questionnaire on the internet can make one.
What the questions provide is something more tangible. Each one points either to a value you can have measured or to a factor that no laboratory in the world can capture. That is why each question is followed by a brief phrase explaining what it targets. As you read, count how often you think, “I don’t know.” It tells you more than the number of yes answers.
- On most days of the week, do you exercise enough to raise your pulse and make you slightly short of breath? This concerns HDL cholesterol and triglycerides, which respond to regular endurance exercise.
- Do you smoke, or have you smoked in the past twelve months? This is not a blood value: smoking is one of the five major risk factors, but no test in the range measures it.
- Do you add salt before tasting your food? This is not about your blood, but about your blood pressure, which you have to measure yourself.
- Do you know your blood pressure from a measurement taken within the past twelve months, with one number before and one after the slash? This concerns self-measurement with an upper-arm device.
- Do you know your cholesterol levels individually, meaning LDL and HDL separately, rather than only the total value? This concerns LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol.
- Do you know your HbA1c, the long-term blood sugar level? This concerns the value that reflects blood sugar regulation over the preceding weeks.
- Has your waist circumference increased over the past five years without much else changing? This concerns triglycerides and HbA1c, which are linked to abdominal fat.
- Do you drink alcohol on more than two evenings a week? This primarily concerns triglycerides, which respond noticeably to it.
- Do you regularly sleep less than six hours? This is not about a single laboratory value, but about the link between sleep and blood pressure and blood sugar regulation.
- Has anyone in your immediate family had a heart attack or stroke before the age of 60? This, too, is not about a value, but about the reason to learn the other five earlier than usual.
Two questions stand apart, and that is intentional. Smoking and waist circumference are risk factors without a laboratory value. No blood test captures them, no matter how many markers it includes. Anyone who answers yes to these two questions has a starting point that no measurement provides.
Key takeaway
The self-check does not judge you. It sorts out which of your numbers you know and which you do not.
Five factors that explain half
The ten questions seem thrown together. They are not. They revolve around a small group of factors to which the professional society attributes most of what happens.
Documented source
“Five risk factors are considered responsible for at least half of all cardiovascular diseases worldwide. They include high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, diabetes, being overweight, and smoking.”
German Society of Cardiology
herzmedizin.de, 2026
The professional society follows this list with a sentence that is rarely quoted: “The good news: We can influence all of them!” That is the real point. Three of the five factors come with a laboratory value that can be read. High blood pressure has one number, elevated cholesterol levels have several, and blood sugar regulation can be represented by HbA1c.
Why three factors can be measured and two cannot
Being overweight and smoking do not require a laboratory test. Waist circumference is measured with a tape, and the cigarette lies in the ashtray. You already know both, and that is precisely why both slip into the background in everyday life: What you know can be pushed aside. A number on a test report is harder to brush off.
With the other three, it is the opposite. High blood pressure does not hurt, neither does a high LDL level, and impaired blood sugar regulation does not announce itself for years. They are silent factors. They only become visible when someone measures them. That is why the rest of this article focuses on them.
What these values have in common
LDL, HDL, triglycerides, HbA1c, and blood pressure come from different areas of medicine. Two are related to fat metabolism, one to glucose metabolism, one to cardiovascular measurement, and HDL sits somewhere in between. Nevertheless, they behave the same way in one respect.
They are all slow to change. None of them shifts overnight. HbA1c reflects weeks, blood pressure fluctuates over the course of the day and requires several measurements for an average to mean anything, and blood lipids shift over months. Anyone who measures today and again in four weeks will see little change in most of these values. Anyone who measures after six months will see a trend.
The second point they have in common is more uncomfortable. None of these values has a sharp cutoff. There is no value below which nothing happens, and none above which something must happen. The thresholds in the guidelines are reference points at which professional societies begin to look more closely. Reference ranges also vary depending on the laboratory and measurement method, as you can find in the fine print on every report.
And the third point: They are interconnected. A high triglyceride level rarely occurs alone, and neither does an abnormal HbA1c. The professional literature therefore considers them as a bundle, not as isolated pieces. For you, this means that a single number taken out of context says little, while a set of five numbers says quite a lot.
What the five values have in common
All five are slow to change, none has a sharp cutoff, and they are all interconnected. That is why they are measured and interpreted together and repeated after months, not weeks.
When not to measure but to call
This article is about values measured when you are at rest. There are situations in which no number can help anymore and every minute counts. They have nothing to do with preventive care.
If you have these signs, call 112
Pressure, tightness, or burning in the chest
Especially when it starts suddenly and does not go away on its own. Do not wait, do not measure, and do not drive yourself to the hospital.
Pain radiating to the arm, jaw, back, or upper abdomen
The pain does not have to be in the chest to be serious. Pain radiating to other parts of the body is one of the signs that should be assessed immediately.
Sudden shortness of breath, cold sweats, nausea, or severe tightness
These signs can also occur without severe chest pain. Even then, call emergency services rather than checking your appointment calendar.
Weakness or numbness on one side of the body, drooping corner of the mouth, speech disturbance
One-sided weakness or loss of function is a case for emergency services, regardless of whether it improves again after a few minutes.
For this section, we do not have a citable source with the exact wording, so no institution or number is given here. What remains is the number: 112. When in doubt, it is better to call once too early.
The five values at a glance
The following overview is the only table in this article. For each value, it shows four things: what it represents, which reference threshold a professional society specifies, where you can get it, and what it explicitly does not show. The last column is the most important.
| Value | What it shows | Reference threshold with source | Where you can get it | What it does not show |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDL cholesterol | The amount of cholesterol traveling toward the vessel wall. The value around which the guidelines revolve most strongly. | For low risk, a target value below 116 mg/dl may be considered; for moderate risk, below 100 mg/dl. DGK, Pocket Guideline on Dyslipidemia, 2019. | At a doctor's office or with a capillary blood test at home, meaning a few drops taken yourself from your fingertip. | It does not show whether anything has already built up in your blood vessels. Imaging at a medical practice is needed for that. |
| HDL cholesterol | The proportion of cholesterol transported back to the liver. It is interpreted together with LDL and the total cholesterol value. | For HDL, the 2019 DGK pocket guideline on dyslipidemia does not specify a target value at this point. The reference range on your report is what matters. | Doctor’s office or capillary blood test at home. | A high HDL value does not offset a high LDL value. The two do not cancel each other out. |
| Triglycerides | The blood fats that respond most quickly to alcohol, sugar, and the last meal. | Not a target value, but below 150 mg/dl indicates a low risk; above that, checking other risk factors is recommended. DGK, Pocket Guideline on Dyslipidemias, 2019. | Doctor’s office or capillary blood test at home. | A single value says little because it fluctuates from day to day. When and how much you last ate is part of the context for interpreting it. |
| HbA1c | How high blood sugar was on average over the preceding weeks. The value that a single meal does not affect. | Below 5.7 percent is considered no diabetes, 5.7 to 6.4 percent an elevated risk, and 6.5 percent or higher diabetes mellitus. IQWiG, gesundheitsinformation.de, 2025. | Doctor’s office or capillary blood test at home. | It does not show individual spikes after eating or low blood sugar. An average conceals both directions. |
| Blood pressure (self-measurement) | The pressure with which the blood hits the vessel walls. The only one of the five values that you can measure yourself as often as you like. | Below 120/80 mmHg is optimal; 130–139 over 85–89 mmHg is considered high-normal; the upper limit of normal blood pressure when measured at a doctor’s office is 140/90 mmHg on average over two days. German Hypertension League, accessed 2026. | Self-measurement with an upper-arm monitor. No blood test in the world provides this value. | A single measurement shows only the moment. Only two measurements on two days, while seated and after a few minutes of rest, provide a reliable basis. |
A word about blood pressure, because it is the most common misconception on this topic: It appears in this table even though it is not a blood value. A blood test does not measure it, either at the doctor’s office or at home. Our article What is normal blood pressure? explains in detail how to proceed and what the levels mean.
Reading LDL, HDL, and triglycerides together
Cholesterol is not a toxin that the body wants to get rid of. It uses it to build cell walls, hormones, and bile acids, and produces most of it itself. The problem is not the substance, but the transport. Cholesterol is not water-soluble and needs carriers to move through the blood. LDL and HDL are two of these carriers, and they travel in different directions.
Imagine a freight fleet. The LDL vehicles deliver goods to the outskirts, while the HDL vehicles collect surplus goods and drive them back to the liver. If too many goods go out and too few return, some are left lying along the roadsides. That is precisely why LDL is the focus of the guidelines: it is the amount in transit.
The LDL target value is not the same for everyone
This is where it gets precise. The pocket guideline “Diagnosis and Treatment of Dyslipidemias” from the German Society of Cardiology does not specify a single threshold for everyone, but differentiates by risk category. For people at low risk, an LDL target value below 116 mg/dl may be considered; for moderate risk, below 100 mg/dl. As of 2019.
For you, this means two things. If you have no known cardiovascular disease, no diabetes, and no familial lipid disorder, the value for low risk is your benchmark. If one of these pre-existing conditions is present, a different, usually lower target value applies to you, and you can obtain it in your doctor's office. No article on the internet can tell you which risk category you are in.
Triglycerides are the most temperamental of the three
According to the same guideline, there is no target value for triglycerides. A value below 150 mg/dl indicates a low risk; at higher values, it is advisable to check other risk factors. This is deliberately cautious wording, and there is a reason for it: triglycerides respond to the previous evening's meal, alcohol, and a sleepless night. A single elevated value is a snapshot.
One value is a data point. Two values measured some time apart show a direction.
One value is a data point. Two values measured some time apart show a direction. If you measure your blood lipids once, you know where you stand today. If you measure them again six months later, you know where things are heading, and that is much more useful information. The article Reading LDL, HDL, and triglycerides together explores how to interpret the three values in combination.
The question remains where to measure it. There are devices for home use that determine cholesterol from a drop of blood, and there is the laboratory route. Both approaches have their own characteristics; Measuring cholesterol yourself at home explains which is suitable for what. This article is about which values matter at all, not about the measurement method.
HbA1c: blood sugar memory
HbA1c is the quiet colleague among the five values. It does not tell you how high your blood sugar is right now, but how high it was on average over several weeks. Some of the red blood pigment permanently binds to sugar, and because red blood cells live for a few months, this proportion carries your history with it. Hence its nickname: blood sugar memory.
That is what makes it robust. A hearty breakfast does not shift it, and neither does skipping a meal. If you happen to catch a good day when measuring your fasting blood glucose, that is no longer visible in the HbA1c. That is precisely why it is included in this group of five rather than the fasting value.
What the thresholds mean
The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) provides a classification on gesundheitsinformation.de, as of 2025: below 5.7 percent, no diabetes; 5.7 to 6.4 percent, increased risk of diabetes; 6.5 percent or higher, diabetes mellitus. In the second unit, these are below 39, 39 to 48, and above 48 mmol/mol. The reference ranges are the same for women and men and apply regardless of age.
The middle range is the interesting one. It is not a finding or a disease, but an indication that blood sugar regulation has changed. Anyone who falls into this range has gained time. What the range means in detail and which values belong to it is explained in Recognizing prediabetes: which values matter. HbA1c in the blood explains what HbA1c actually is technically.
One objection seems obvious: If the value only provides an average anyway, why then the precision to the first decimal place? Because the change matters. A value that rises from 5.4 to 5.8 over two measurements tells a story that no single value can tell. The number itself is only the beginning.
Who can benefit from the check
Not everyone needs these values laid out, and for some people a self-test is the wrong approach. The following comparison is not a recommendation, but a way to help you sort things out.
Worthwhile for you if …
you thought “I don't know” three times in response to questions 4 to 6 of the self-check and simply do not know your values.
someone in your family had a heart attack or stroke before the age of 60 and you want a baseline value.
you are between 40 and 60 and have not had a check-up for years, but want to be prepared for your next conversation with your doctor.
Probably not if …
you have a known heart condition and are receiving medical care. Your values are already monitored closely, and your target values differ from the general ones.
you currently have acute symptoms. In that case, you should go to a medical practice or call emergency services, not place an order.
you are pregnant. Pregnancy involves its own examinations and reference ranges, which belong in medical care.
Which tests also measure the values
Four of the five values can be determined from a blood sample you collect yourself. mybody®x (MYBODY Lab GmbH) offers two blood tests for this purpose, covering all four. Both use capillary blood, meaning a few drops from the fingertip that you collect yourself, unlike blood drawn from a vein at a medical practice.
One difference between the two is significant for this topic: only the men's test includes homocysteine and lipoprotein. The women's test contains neither marker. So if you are specifically looking for these two values, you will find them only in the first card.
Blood test
Men's Wellness Check | Men's Wellness Check
17 values from one blood sample, including total, HDL, and LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, lipoprotein, HbA1c, CRP, and homocysteine. What it does not do: It does not measure blood pressure, provide a diagnosis, or tell you which risk category you fall into. Interpreting your target values remains the responsibility of your medical practice.
Laboratory analysis 3–5 business days after sample receipt
Blood test
Women's Wellness Check | Women's Wellness Check
18 values from one blood sample, including cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, HbA1c, and CRP. What it does not include: homocysteine and lipoprotein are not included, nor is a blood pressure reading. This test also provides numbers with context, not a diagnosis.
Laboratory analysis 3–5 business days after sample receipt
Both tests cover four of the five values. You have to measure the fifth yourself, and you don't need a subscription for that, just an upper-arm monitor from a pharmacy or medical practice. Two measurements on two days, while seated and after a few minutes of rest: that's all it takes.
Limitations: what the numbers cannot do
Five values are five values. They do not show the condition of your blood vessels, measure your heart rhythm, or indicate what will happen in the coming years. Anyone seeking a statement about their personal risk needs a medical assessment that takes age, medical history, and findings into account alongside the numbers.
Two of the five major risk factors do not appear in any lab report. Smoking and excess weight remain invisible, no matter how many markers a test measures. The self-check above asks about them because otherwise half the story is missing.
There is also a methodological limitation that appears on every lab report and is nevertheless regularly overlooked. Reference ranges depend on the laboratory, method, and age. Two laboratories can analyze the same drop of blood and report slightly different numbers, and both can be right. That is why it is best to compare values with your own, from the same laboratory, over time.
Key takeaway
No single value says “healthy” or “ill.” The numbers are the starting point for a conversation, not its conclusion.
What to do with the numbers
It started with ten questions, and the most interesting answer was not yes or no, but “I don't know.” These gaps can be filled, in an order that doesn't overwhelm anyone.
Write down what you know
Five lines on a piece of paper: LDL, HDL, triglycerides, HbA1c, blood pressure. Next to each, the last known value with date, or a question mark.
Measure your blood pressure yourself
Upper-arm device, sitting down, after a few minutes of rest. Two measurements on two different days, both recorded. The 140/90 mmHg threshold is considered an average over two days (German Hypertension League).
Obtain the four laboratory values
Through the doctor’s office or a capillary blood test at home. Both produce the same four numbers on a report.
Bring the note with you
The numbers are preparation for the conversation with your doctor, never self-diagnosis. With five values and two questions, ten minutes of consultation time becomes far more productive.
One final observation from our consultations: Most follow-up questions about findings concern not poor values, but unclear ones. Someone has a number but does not know whether it is right for them. That is exactly what comparison with yourself is for. Measure once, put the result away, and measure again in six months. The second number is the one that tells you something.
Frequently asked questions
Does a blood test at home replace an appointment at the doctor’s office?
No. A self-test provides laboratory values, not a diagnosis or an assessment of your personal situation. The practice determines which risk category someone falls into based on their medical history, age, other findings, and examinations that no test at home can capture. The practical benefit lies elsewhere: You enter the conversation with numbers rather than a suspicion, which shortens the path to an assessment.
Why is blood pressure included in a list of blood values?
Because it is one of the five major risk factors named by the German Cardiac Society in 2026, and because it is the only one of them that can be measured at home as often as desired. However, it is not measured from blood, but with an upper-arm device. The German Hypertension League defines below 120/80 mmHg as optimal and 140/90 mmHg as the upper limit of normal blood pressure when measured in a medical practice, averaged over two days.
My HbA1c is 6.0 percent. What does that mean?
The range from 5.7 to 6.4 percent is listed on gesundheitsinformation.de, the IQWiG website, as of 2025, as an increased risk for diabetes; below 5.7 percent means no diabetes, and from 6.5 percent indicates diabetes mellitus. A value in this intermediate range is not a finding you should interpret on your own. It is a reason to discuss it in practice and have it measured again after a few months.
Does an LDL value below 116 mg/dL apply to everyone?
No, and that is the most common misconception about this value. The 2019 Pocket Guideline on Dyslipidemia from the German Cardiac Society uses risk categories: for low risk, a target value below 116 mg/dL may be considered; for moderate risk, below 100 mg/dL. People with pre-existing conditions have their own, usually lower target values, which are determined in practice.
What is capillary blood, and is it sufficient for cholesterol and HbA1c?
Capillary blood consists of a few drops taken from the fingertip yourself, unlike blood drawn from a vein. Both wellness checks offered by mybody®x determine cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, and HbA1c from this type of sample and have them analyzed at a specialized laboratory in Germany. The reference ranges shown on your test report are always decisive for evaluation because they depend on the laboratory and method.
Next step
Four of the five values from one blood sample
If you do not know your baseline values, a wellness check is the smaller step. You measure your blood pressure yourself as well.
View the men's health test View the women's health testRead more
You might also be interested in
The value shown on many test reports and rarely explained.
Why the ratio is popular and where its limitations lie.
Sources
- Federal Statistical Office (Destatis): Causes of death in Germany 2024, press release no. 377 (2025 edition) - destatis.de
- German Society of Cardiology: Five risk factors endanger heart health (2026 edition) - herzmedizin.de
- German Society of Cardiology: Pocket Guideline on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Dyslipidemias, pp. 30-31 (2019 edition) - herzmedizin.de
- German Hypertension League: High blood pressure in adults (undated, accessed 08/09/2026) - hochdruckliga.de
- IQWiG, gesundheitsinformation.de: HbA1c (Hemoglobin A1c) (2025 edition) - gesundheitsinformation.de
- WHO: Guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour (2020 edition) and Fact sheet Sodium reduction (2026 edition) - who.int
The number of deaths and the 56.5 percent share come from [1]. The five modifiable risk factors and the quote in Chapter 3 come from [2]. The LDL target values and triglyceride threshold come from [3], the blood pressure categories from [4], the HbA1c thresholds from [5], and the physical activity and salt recommendations from [6]. Product names, markers, sample type, and prices come from the mybody®x product pages, status as of 08/09/2026.
mybody®x Editorial & Medical Team
Blood tests Cardiovascular risk factors Interpreting laboratory results
This article was created by the mybody®x editorial team and reviewed against the guidelines and publications of the institutions named. Information about the people behind it can be found on the authors page.
Published on 08/09/2026 · Last updated on 08/09/2026
The content is for general information only and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Reference ranges depend on the laboratory, method, and age - the information on your test report is always decisive.
Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent diseases.
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