Testing Your 'BQ': The Body-Quotient Quiz

May 9, 2005 — -- Readers can test their knowledge of their own bodies in a new book by authors Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz, "YOU: The Owners' Manual." Part of the quiz excerpted from the book is below.

Testing Your BQ: The Body-Quotient Quiz

Everyone knows that IQ (intelligence quotient) measures your smarts. There's also such a thing as EQ (emotional quotient), which measures traits linked to personality and character. Though some people may live and die by DQ (Dairy Queen), our favorite acronym is BQ: body quotient. How much do you know about your body? Sure, you know your legs make you run, your liver cleans up your happy-hour shenanigans, and your gut makes a nice ledge for your bottle of Bud, but we want to give you a little test -- to introduce you to how cool your body is and to challenge your preconceived notions about how your body works and ages.

Though you've lived in yours for thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, maybe seventy or more years, our contention is that you probably don't know your body as intimately as you think. By knowing your body, you develop a base of knowledge that gives you the power and authority to preserve and strengthen your life.

Don't worry if you fail this Body-Quotient Quiz because we'll answer everything throughout the book. Remember, too, that after you're finished with our book, you have ready tutors: your doctors. And you should use your doctors for more than just signing prescriptions. Use them as teachers; after all, that's what the word doctor means in Latin. Most want to be used this way -- it is their fun, let them have it. Ask them questions. Use their knowledge to learn more about how your body works.

So now pluck that pencil from your kid's backpack, and take a guess at these questions. At the end, flip to the back pages in this chapter, check out the answers, and find out how well you know your body.

The BQ Quiz: How Body Smart Are You?

1. Which of the following ages you the least?
a. Smoking one pack of cigarettes a day
b. A HDL (good) cholesterol level of 29 mg/dl
c. Consistently avoiding "cleaning grout" on your to-do list
d. Eating steak twice a week

2. What is the ideal blood pressure?
a. 115/76
b. Anything less than 140/90
c. Whatever the heck made George Burns live to one hundred
d. Depends on your family history

3. Which of the following is the best advice about diets?
a. The less you eat, the more weight you'll lose
b. The best diet is one you can follow forever
c. A good weight-loss diet include foods with little or no fat
d. Would somebody please pass the bacon?

4. What is the greatest threat to your arteries?
a. An elevated blood pressure of 160/90
b. An elevated LDL (bad) cholesterol of 200
c. An elevated helping of fried zucchini sticks
d. An elevated amount of time spent on the couch

5. Which of the following conditions is not primarily caused by the deterioration of arteries?
a. Strokes
b. Wrinkles
c. Diabetes
d. Impotence

6. What's the best Valentine's Day gift you can give your partner to make him/her healthier?
a. A little real chocolate candy for its nutritional effects
b. Schedule a warm massage for loosening up muscles
c. Flowers, for their therapeutic and aromatic effects
d. I'll be more than happy to take a spin through the Victoria's Secret catalog to get a few ideas