Ultimate Me: Your key to peak performance, youthful vigor and better health

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Whether you're new to military service, a seasoned warrior, a supportive spouse or a proud retiree, you've undoubtedly had days when your body or mind simply felt "old" or didn't perform as well as it should. In many cases, this may be a one-time occurrence due to lack of sufficient sleep, overexertion from physical activity or another factor. In some cases, however, your body may be showing signs of its "RealAge®" - its biological age based on your overall health.

How do you find out your RealAge® and take steps to maintain or reduce it? Thanks to Operation Live Well - the Defense Department's long-term healthy living initiative - the entire defense community at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., now can test out a brand-new online wellness site that will help you calculate your RealAge®, make personalized recommendations to help maintain or improve your lifestyle, and provide a variety of empowering resources to support you.

Known as UltimateMe, the secure dot-mil site serves as a one-stop shop for personalized health and wellness tips; interactive tools like nutrition, sleep and fitness trackers; access to medical experts; workout video clips; and a social community where you can post or blog about your progress, comment on your friends' activities and make new social connections. You'll earn virtual badges for your progress, and you can even engage in fun and friendly competitions with your peers as you pursue your performance and wellness goals.

Representatives of DOD's Operation Live Well initiative hope that UltimateMe users will share the results of their online health and wellness assessments with their medical providers, so they can jointly make the best decisions about maintaining or improving their health.

"Our forces and our families face more stress than ever before," said U.S. Public Health Service Capt. Kimberly Elenberg, with the Defense Health Agency. "Through our new DOD wellness site, we can have an immediate impact on their health and well-being, and reduce healthcare costs in the long run. We encourage all members of the defense community to join UltimateMe and discover how they can take charge of their health, achieve better performance, look and feel their best, and ultimately maintain or lower their RealAge®," she added.

UltimateMe is being pilot-tested at March Field and the other 13 DOD sites participating in Operation Live Well's year-long Healthy Base Initiative demonstration project. Depending on the success of the pilot testing, the wellness site may be continued and/or expanded to other military installations in coming years.

To start benefiting from UltimateMe, visit www.Health.mil/UltimateMe, create your secure online profile and take the RealAge® test. Review your results and customized health recommendations, share them with your primary care provider if desired, and get under way with your personal wellness journey!

Share your Healthy Base Inititative stories with us as www.facebook.com/TeamMarch.