Your markers, in plain English.

Where fat sits often shifts around perimenopause, even when weight does not. Waist measures catch that. Weight alone does not.

Resting heart rate and body temperature both rise a little after ovulation. Compare like with like: same cycle phase, same time of day.

Weight can swing across a cycle from water alone. Composition (fat, lean mass, bone) shows what actually changed. A DXA scan is the most detailed common way to measure it.

Wearable numbers are estimates. The trend over weeks is useful. A single day is not.

Sleep often changes in the days before a period, and again around perimenopause. Reading sleep next to cycle phase separates a pattern from a bad week.

Heart rate variability tends to dip, and resting heart rate tends to rise, in the second half of the cycle. That is physiology, not a loss of fitness.

Reference ranges for haemoglobin are set lower for women than for men. Regular blood loss from periods is one reason red cell markers matter here.

Rh status matters in pregnancy. It is recorded once and does not change.

Bone loss speeds up after menopause as oestrogen falls. Blood markers show the supply side. A DXA scan shows the bone itself.

Insulin sensitivity shifts across the cycle and again around menopause. Fasting tests need a true fast to mean anything.

Periods are the most common reason for low iron in women. Ferritin rises with inflammation, so it is best read next to CRP.

Lipid patterns often shift after menopause. A result from your thirties is not a forecast for your fifties.

Creatinine comes from muscle. Women with less muscle, or more, can get an eGFR that reads off. Cystatin C does not depend on muscle.

Hard training can raise ALT and AST for days, because muscle releases them too. ALP rises in pregnancy.

These are usually ordered to answer a specific question, not as a routine screen.

Creatine kinase can stay raised for several days after hard training. Rest before a test if you want a clean baseline.

Needs change with heavy periods, pregnancy, plant-based eating and some medications. Test, then decide. Guessing in either direction has a cost.

Some of these only read correctly if the food in question is still in your diet. Check before you test.

Timing matters. Most of these change day by day across the cycle. A result with no cycle day attached is hard to read. Hormonal contraception and HRT change the picture too.

The waist cut-off used for women is lower than for men. This is a group of risk markers that tend to travel together, not a diagnosis in itself.

Thyroid conditions are far more common in women than in men, and often appear after pregnancy or around menopause. High-dose biotin supplements can distort thyroid results. Ask about pausing them before a test.

A raised result shows sensitisation. It does not prove an allergy on its own. It has to match real symptoms.

ESR tends to run higher in women and rises with age. These markers say that something is going on. They do not say what.

These are not screening tests. CA-125, for example, can rise with periods, endometriosis and fibroids. Doctors mainly use them to follow a known condition, next to scans and other tests. A result in either direction, read alone, proves nothing. Always go through it with your doctor.

A sample taken during a period can show blood that has nothing to do with the kidneys or bladder. Note the cycle day. A mid-stream sample gives the cleanest read.