Everything checks out.
That is not the same as fine.
You can have a normal weight and still store fat around your organs. That is the kind of fat that matters most, and the kind a scale cannot see.
You would not call yourself unhealthy
And yet. These are the signals people in this group tend to recognise:
- Fatigue
- Poor sleep
- Exhaustion
- Food cravings
- Irritability
Why a normal weight can be misleading
Where fat sits matters more than how much of it there is. Fat around the organs behaves differently from fat under the skin, and someone at a perfectly ordinary weight can carry a lot of it. A DEXA measures that region directly rather than estimating it from your weight and height.
The fat around your organs — invisible from the outside and invisible to a scale. DEXA measures it directly.
Mapped per region. One of the three essential pillars of metabolic health.
What it doesn't do
A DEXA scan says nothing about your heart, your blood or your stress hormones. It measures body composition. If your question is broader than that, the scan is one piece of it and not the answer.
Is the radiation safe?
A DEXA scan uses a fraction of the dose of a regular X-ray — comparable to a few hours of natural background radiation. It's still why a physician reviews every request first.
Is it covered by insurance?
No — this is a preventive scan you choose yourself, so it isn't reimbursed. The €150 covers the scan, the physician review and the results walkthrough.
Can I come if I'm pregnant?
No — during pregnancy we don't scan, even at this low dose. The questionnaire checks for this, and you're welcome afterwards.
Who performs the scan?
A trained technician performs the scan; a licensed physician approves it beforehand and signs off on your report.
How is this different from an MRI?
They answer different questions. An MRI images tissue and structures in detail and is a diagnostic tool a doctor orders when something specific needs looking at. A DEXA measures what your body is made of — fat, muscle and bone — and where it sits. A DEXA is quicker, far cheaper and uses a very low dose; it is not a substitute for an MRI and it looks for nothing that an MRI looks for.
Why not just use a scale or a smart body-fat monitor?
A scale gives you one number for your whole body, and that number cannot tell you whether you lost fat or muscle. A bio-impedance monitor — the kind in a smart scale — sends a small current through you and estimates the split from how easily it passes; that estimate shifts with how much you have drunk, eaten or trained that day. A DEXA measures the tissues separately and by region, so it can say where fat sits rather than only how much there is. That distinction is the whole point of this scan.