Your numbers
Your 30s Are When Your Numbers Start Keeping Score.
Most people meet their numbers when something goes wrong. That is the expensive way to do it.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Blue, MD · 2 min read · October 15, 2026
The short version
- The American Heart Association suggests checking cholesterol from age 20, every 4 to 6 years, and blood pressure at least every 2 years.
- Numbers add up over years, so the early ones matter most.
- The second set of numbers tells you more than the first.
The American Heart Association suggests adults start checking cholesterol at age 20, and every four to six years after that if things look good. It suggests checking blood pressure at least every two years from age 20, and more often if it is above 120/80.
Most people do neither. They meet their numbers for the first time in their 40s or 50s, usually because something prompted the test.
Numbers add up over years
Blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar are not one-day events. They are exposures. A number that runs a little high for twenty years is a different story from one that runs high for two, which is why the guidelines care about when you start, not just where you are.
The CARDIA study, which has followed young American adults since the 1980s, has shown this repeatedly: numbers in your 20s and 30s are linked to what shows up in the arteries decades later.
Find a number drifting at 35 and there are decades of runway to move it with small changes. Find the same number at 65 and those decades are already spent.
Why nobody tells you
In your 20s and 30s, everything usually comes back normal. Normal is reassuring, so nobody looks closer. But normal only means you are in the crowd, and the crowd is not where the lowest risk is.
What to actually do
Get the basic numbers: blood pressure, a lipid panel, fasting glucose, and HbA1c if your doctor will add it. Keep a copy of every result. Then do it again, because the second set of numbers tells you far more than the first. Direction beats any single result.
Sources
- American Heart Association. How to get your cholesterol tested; Monitoring your blood pressure at home.
- Pletcher MJ, et al. Nonoptimal lipids commonly present in young adults and coronary calcium later in life: the CARDIA study. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2010.
This article is general information, not medical advice. Make decisions about your care with your own doctor.