Dr. Mark Hyman says these biomarkers matter most for long-term health.
Your understanding of your health may be largely subjective: your mood, your energy after a big meal, your ability to recover after an intense workout.
Those feelings — plus the few insights you get from a smart watch — don’t give you the full picture. But you can unlock deeper, actionable insights into your wellbeing with recurring lab tests.
“Rather than waiting for something to go wrong, advanced lab testing gives you a real-time picture of what’s happening inside your body,” says Tiffany Lester, M.D., the women’s health medical director of Function Health. It can detect small changes in inflammation or metabolic markers, for instance, that might rise and fall across life stages and ultimately influence cardiovascular function, performance, and more.
A Function membership, available to Equinox members at an exclusive rate, includes an annual lab test that analyzes more than 100 biomarkers across your heart, kidneys, liver, thyroid, and more. After six months, you’ll retest 60 of those biomarkers to see what’s changing and what’s not. “When you can see exactly where your body is thriving — and where it needs support — your training, nutrition, and recovery get sharper,” says Dr. Lester. “You stop guessing. You start acting on data.”
All of the examined biomarkers give valuable insights into your health, but experts say a handful should be top of mind — especially for women.
RELATED: Train for Your Biomarkers
The 7 Biomarkers You Shouldn’t Ignore
Mark Hyman, M.D., a co-founder and the chief medical officer of Function, suggests paying extra attention to three biomarker buckets: cardiovascular health, metabolic health, and resilience.
“These biomarkers are early warning signals that can show where the body is compensating — often years before symptoms show up,” says Dr. Hyman. “If you care about long-term health, you want to catch dysfunction early, not after a diagnosis.”
For Cardiovascular Health: Lipoprotein(a), Apolipoprotein B, and High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein
Lipoprotein(a) (Lp[a]) is similar in structure to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and also carries cholesterol in the blood. However, Lp(a) contains an extra protein that makes it more likely to cause plaque build-up in the arteries, reducing blood flow and increasing cardiovascular risk, according to the American Heart Association. Your level of Lp(a) is mostly inherited. Importantly, you can have normal LDL levels and still have high Lp(a) levels, per the organization.
Meanwhile, apolipoprotein B (apoB) is the main protein bound to the surface of LDL and very low-density lipoprotein — lipoproteins that carry “bad” cholesterol and triglycerides, respectively, throughout the body and can raise risk for heart disease and stroke. ApoB is also found on the surface of Lp(a).
“ApoB and Lp(a) help us understand cardiovascular risk at a deeper level than standard cholesterol tests,” says Dr. Hyman. In fact, apoB levels may be a more accurate marker of all-cause mortality risk in individuals being treated with cholesterol-lowering drugs than LDL or non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, according to a study of more than 13,000 people.
With both of these biomarkers, “a consistently out-of-range result can mean ongoing exposure of the arteries to plaque-forming particles, raising long-term risk — even in people who exercise regularly,” says Dr. Hyman.
Also worth noting: high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a protein made by the liver that reflects inflammation, says Dr. Hyman. In a 2025 analysis of more than 448,000 people without known atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, hs-CRP was found to be a clinically relevant predictor of cardiovascular events and mortality.
These biomarkers are critical for women; cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in this population, with risk rising as estrogen levels decline with age, adds Dr. Lester.
RELATED: 5 Biomarkers for Heart Health
For Metabolic Health: Fasting Insulin and Hemoglobin A1c
Fasting glucose levels are typically tested during traditional blood work. But, “metabolic markers — especially fasting insulin — can flag early insulin resistance before glucose changes,” says Dr. Lester.
Insulin resistance, a condition in which the body doesn’t respond to insulin the way it should, can lead to increased blood glucose levels, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Over time, that can raise the risk of type II diabetes, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, and cardiovascular disease, says Dr. Hyman. “Catching [insulin resistance] early remains one of the most important strategies for protecting long-term cardiometabolic health,” adds Dr. Lester. “This is particularly important for women with PCOS and during the menopausal transition, when declining estrogen begins altering metabolic flexibility.”
Similarly, a hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test measures the percentage of hemoglobin — a protein in your red blood cells that carries oxygen to your tissues and organs — that has sugar attached to it. The results tell you your average blood glucose level over the past three months (roughly the lifespan of red blood cells), rather than a single point in time (i.e., fasting glucose). As such, it can indicate how well the body is modulating blood sugar and metabolic health, says Dr. Hyman. It’s normal to have some glucose-attached hemoglobin, but too high of levels can signal prediabetes and diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For Resilience: Ferritin and Vitamin D
Levels of these two biomarkers can signal “foundational resilience,” says Dr. Hyman. That is, “when they’re out of range, performance and long-term health can both suffer.”
Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption (for bone strength), helps reduce inflammation, and modulates immune function, among other functions, according to the NIH. Meanwhile, ferritin is a protein in the blood that stores iron (a mineral that makes up hemoglobin). Low ferritin levels generally indicate iron deficiency, which is linked with fatigue, difficulty concentrating, weakness, and gastrointestinal disturbances, according to the NIH. For women in particular, low levels can contribute to that fatigue, as well as reduced training capacity and recovery and hair shedding, adds Dr. Lester.
RELATED: 4 Training Elements for Better Bone Health
How to Make Sense of Your Function Health Data
The results from your Function tests will be tagged as “in range” or “out of range,” based on population averages; what’s considered “optimal” for an active 30-something will be different for a sedentary woman in her 60s, says Dr. Lester.
When your profile shows an out-of-range biomarker, Dr. Hyman’s advice is simple: “Don’t panic — get curious,” he says. “A single out-of-range lab is not a verdict; it’s a clue. I like to frame labs as a dashboard: A warning light means, ‘check the system,’ not, ‘the engine is done.’”
You don’t need to interpret the results on your own. Function’s clinical team will follow up, identifying patterns in your data, providing additional insight, and creating a specific, sequenced action plan. In general, though, Dr. Hyman recommends prioritizing the basics: sleep quality, adequate protein and fiber intake, alcohol moderation, stress regulation, and a well-balanced training and recovery program.
Remember, these numbers don’t exist in a vacuum. How you’re training, sleeping, hydrating, and recovering can all influence your biomarkers, as can your menstrual cycle and illness, says Dr. Hyman. Hormonal changes across life stages can affect cholesterol, insulin sensitivity, inflammation, iron levels, and bone health, adds Dr. Lester. That’s why testing over time is so powerful, particularly for women, she says.
“This builds a picture of your biology in motion,” she says. “You can see whether a dietary change is moving your metabolic markers, whether a new training protocol is affecting your cortisol, or whether you’re entering a hormonal transition earlier than expected. That kind of visibility transforms health from reactive to proactive.”
Unlock your exclusive Function Health membership rate ($249, normally $365) and get your first lab test by visiting Equinox Circle on the EQX+ app. Available only to members of U.S.-based Equinox Clubs.