The Health Education Department and the Longest Student Health Center are sponsoring the Know Your Numbers campaign in conjunction with the Run Wild event.
The Know Your Numbers campaign offers free health screenings to MSU students and Starkville residents that would normally cost $40.
The screening includes assessments of blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol and body mass index.
Knowing these numbers could help participants make more informed lifestyle decisions that can lead to better health and a longer life, said Joyce Yates, director of the Health and Wellness Center.
“We’re trying to do campaigns to promote an understanding of what quality of life and good health are all about,” she said. “The more you become aware, it becomes less of a treatment medicine and more of a preventative medicine.”
Yates said knowing your body mass index is key to good health, as it shows fat composition on your body and could prompt healthy lifestyle changes.
“BMI is weight in relation to your height and when you take those two things into consideration, you want [your number] to be 25 or less, which is a healthy goal standard number,” she said.
Yates said not knowing where you stand as far as your cholesterol and body mass index can leave you vulnerable to developing heat disease, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.
Health and wellness educator JuLeigh Baker said blood pressure, another important number, is known as the silent killer and can be hereditary or triggered by lifestyle components.
“There are no signs or symptoms when your blood pressure is too high,” she said. “People tend to have high blood pressure issues and don’t even know it . even students.”
The program started through the Mississippi Chronic Illness Coalition, but Yates said with cooperation from the Mississippi Department of Health, it has been revamped.
“What we like to see is a program that has already been in place become viable for a population like Mississippi State University,” she said.
Graduate student and McKee Hall Director Dante Hill participated in Thursday’s campaign and said learning his health statistics was worth his time.
English assistant professor Tennyson O’Donnell found out about the campaign through an e-mail and decided to attend because he was unsure of his numbers.
“It’s a free opportunity to be able to see where we stand and do something about it in case we’re not where we’re supposed to be,” he said. “It’s important to find out just how healthy we are instead of guessing.”
To conclude the campaign and celebrate lifestyle changes made by participants, the Health Department will sponsor a one mile walk/run, 5k walk/run and a 10k run on April 4. Participants will qualify for an additional health screening to document their progress.
To reduce potential health risks, the Health Education Department recommends increasing physical activity, eating moderate portions and effectively dealing with stress, according to their Web site.
The Know Your Numbers campaign will continue this week today in Lee Hall and Thursday in the Joe Frank Sanderson Center from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. For accurate readings, a 12-hour fast is recommended prior to the screening.