Men’s health checks by age: the blood tests worth knowing about

More men are taking a proactive approach to their health, whether that’s improving energy, understanding hormones, optimising performance, thinking about fertility, or simply wanting to stay healthier for longer. But with so many health tests available, it can be difficult to know which biomarkers are actually worth tracking at different ages.

In your 20s and 30s, blood testing is often more about awareness, optimisation, and establishing a baseline. By your 40s and beyond, it becomes increasingly about prevention, consistency, and earlier identification of potential problems.

This guide breaks down the blood tests and biomarkers most worth paying attention to at each stage of life, without turning your health into a full-time job or convincing you to track things that probably don’t matter.

Age	Blood tests to consider
20s	Testosterone Blood Test, Male Hormone Blood Test, Vitamin D Blood Test
30s	Cholesterol Blood Test, TestosteroneBlood Test, Male Hormone Blood Test, Cortisol Saliva Stress Test, Cortisol Blood Test
40s	Cholesterol Blood Test, Lipoprotein(a) Blood Test, Liver Function Blood Test
50s	Advanced Well Man Blood Test, PSA Blood Test, qFIT Bowel Cancer Screening Test, Optimal Health Blood Test
60s+	PSA Blood Test, qFIT Bowel Cancer Screening Test, Advanced TRT Blood Test, Optimal Health Blood Test

• What blood tests are worth doing in your 20s?
• What blood tests are worth doing in your 30s?
• What blood tests are worth doing in your 40s?
• What blood tests are worth doing in your 50s?
• What blood tests are worth doing in your 60s and beyond?
• Which blood test should most men start with?
• The best blood tests for men?

What blood tests are worth doing in your 20s?
 

Your 20s usually aren’t the decade for endless screening. Most men don’t need a long list of routine blood tests if they feel well. 

But this is a good decade to establish a baseline and begin to understand how lifestyle, stress, sleep, training, diet, and hormones affect your body. 

A lot of men first become interested in health testing during this decade because they:

• Feel tired, despite training regularly
• Want to optimise performance or recovery
• Are thinking about fertility
• Are struggling with stress or burnout
• Simply want to know where they stand

Testosterone and hormone health

Testosterone is one of the biomarkers many men become curious about in their 20s, especially when thinking about:

• Energy levels
• Gym performance
• Muscle mass
• Libido
• Recovery
• Mood

 

Training, performance, and recovery

For many men, their 20s are also when training, fitness, sport, and recovery become a bigger focus. Whether you’re lifting regularly, running, competing, or simply trying to perform at your best, blood testing can sometimes help identify areas that may be affecting energy, recovery, hormone health, or overall performance.

More comprehensive testing may be useful if you:

• Train intensely
• Struggle with recovery or fatigue
• Want to understand your testosterone and hormone levels
• Are interested in performance optimisation
• Want to establish a long-term health baseline early

Vitamin D

Vitamin D can be easy to overlook in your 20s, especially if you feel well. But in the UK, levels can drop quite easily because sunlight is not strong enough for much of the year, and it is hard to get enough from food alone. Adults should consider taking a 10-microgram vitamin D supplement in autumn and winter, and some people may need it all year round if they get little sun exposure or are at higher risk of deficiency. 

It may be worth thinking about vitamin D if you spend most of your time indoors, have darker skin, cover your skin most of the time, or are often tired and run down. A Vitamin D Blood Test can help show whether low vitamin D could be part of the picture, especially if energy, mood, or bone and muscle health are concerns.

What blood tests are worth doing in your 30s?
 

Your 30s are often the decade where health becomes less theoretical and more personal.

For some men, this is when career stress, poor sleep, reduced exercise, and long working hours start to catch up. For others, it’s the decade of thinking more seriously about fertility, long-term health, energy levels, and showing up well for the people around them.

Your thirties can be a sweet spot for preventative health testing. It’s not necessarily when things start going wrong, but it’s often where trends begin. Understanding your health earlier can help you change the trajectory before those patterns become harder to reverse.

Cholesterol and heart health

High cholesterol usually doesn’t cause symptoms, which is exactly why it’s useful to keep an eye on it.

Your 30s can be a sensible time to establish a cholesterol baseline, especially if you have:

• A family history of heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Extra weight around the middle
• A stressful lifestyle
• Poor sleep
• Reduced exercise (sedentary job)

Best test to consider:

• Cholesterol Blood Test

Testosterone, stress, and recovery

Your 30s are usually when many men start paying closer attention to hormones, especially if they notice:

• Lower energy levels
• Reduced recovery
• Lower libido
• Increased fatigue
• Changes in mood or motivation

Stress, sleep, alcohol, body weight, and lifestyle can all affect testosterone and overall wellbeing. 

Blood test to consider:

• Testosterone Blood Test

Fertility and reproductive health

For many men, their 30s are also when fertility becomes more relevant. While male fertility does not decline as sharply with age as female fertility, sperm quality, hormone health, lifestyle, stress, sleep, and overall health can still affect reproductive health over time.

If you’re thinking about starting a family, trying to conceive, or simply want a better understanding of your reproductive health, hormone testing may help provide useful insight into areas linked to fertility and testosterone production. 

Cortisol and stress

Your 30s can be a decade of long working hours, family pressures, poor sleep, and feeling like you are spinning a lot of plates at once. If stress feels constant, it may be worth looking more closely at cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone.

Our Cortisol Blood Test can be useful in some situations, but because cortisol changes naturally throughout the day, a single result only gives you a snapshot. If you want a fuller picture of your daily stress hormone rhythm, we also offer a Cortisol Saliva Stress Test, which measures cortisol at four points across the day using saliva samples taken at home. That can be a helpful option if stress, sleep, energy, or recovery feel off and you want a more detailed view.

What blood tests are worth doing in your 40s?
 

Your 40s are usually when preventive health testing becomes genuinely valuable. 

This is the decade where cardiovascular risk factors become more relevant, even if you still feel healthy. 

Cholesterol and cardiovascular risk

Cholesterol can develop quietly, which is why checking it now can give you a clearer picture of long-term heart health. You can feel well and still have raised cholesterol or other cardiovascular risk factors in the background.

It can also be worth looking at lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a). This is an inherited cholesterol particle that is usually stable throughout life, which is why it’s often recommended to check it at least once in adulthood. If it’s high, it may help explain why cardiovascular risk is higher than expected.

More comprehensive testing can also provide useful insights into metabolic health, inflammation, and broader cardiovascular risk factors, helping to build a fuller picture than cholesterol alone.

Blood tests to consider:

• Cholesterol Blood Test
• Lipoprotein(a) Blood Test

Liver health

It can be easy to get into the habit of a few drinks after work or at the weekend, and before you know it, you may be drinking more than the recommended 14 units a week.

Over time, alcohol can affect more than just your liver. It can also have an impact on sleep, energy, mood, relationships, and sex life. Carrying extra weight can put pressure on the liver too, as excess fat can build up there over time.

A liver blood test can be a useful way to check for signs of liver stress or damage, especially if alcohol, weight, or lifestyle habits may be taking a toll.

Best tests to consider:

• Liver Function Blood Test

What blood tests are worth doing in your 50s?
 

Your 50s are often when long-term health screenings start to become more age specific. 

Cardiovascular checks still matter, but this is also the decade where prostate and bowel health become more relevant. 

Bowel screening

Bowel cancer risk increases with age, which is why bowel cancer screening becomes more important from your 50s onwards. The good news is that screening can help detect problems early, often before symptoms appear. 

Common symptoms to look out for include:

• Blood in your poo
• A change in your bowel habits
• Ongoing bloating
• Stomach pain or cramping
• Unexplained weight loss
• Feeling unusually tired

Blood test to consider:

• qFIT Bowel Cancer Screening Test

PSA and prostate health

Prostate cancer becomes more common with age, particularly: 

• Over 50
• In Black men
• In men with a family history of prostate cancer

A PSA blood test isn't a perfect screening tool, and it isn’t something every man needs to have at 50. But many men choose to monitor PSA levels proactively to better understand their overall health picture.

The link between PSA and urinary health

About one in three men over 50 has urinary symptoms. The most common cause of these symptoms is an enlarged prostate [6].

Having an enlarged prostate does not increase your risk of getting prostate cancer, but it’s possible to have both at the same time. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men — about one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. 

An enlarged prostate, or prostate cancer, may cause symptoms such as:

• A weak flow of urine 
• A feeling that your bladder hasn’t fully emptied 
• Difficulty starting to pee 
• Dribbling urine after you finish peeing 
• Needing to pee more often, especially at night 
• A sudden urge to pee 

Blood test to consider:

• PSA Blood Test

Cardiovascular risk still matters

It’s easy for men in their 50s to focus on prostate health and forget that heart disease remains one of the biggest long-term risks. Blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes risk, and weight are still central. A comprehensive health check that includes advanced heart markers is a good option here. 

Blood tests to consider:

• Advanced Well Man Blood Test
• Optimal Health Blood Test

What blood tests are worth doing in your 60s and beyond?
 

By your 60s, the biggest shift is consistency. 

Regularly monitoring your diet, activity levels, health, and risk factors (like bowel screening and PSA) are a solid long-term health strategy. 

Doing the basics well in your 60s and beyond means: 

• Monitoring cholesterol
• Checking blood sugar
• Staying active
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Keeping up with screening

This is usually the decade where regular annual monitoring becomes even more useful than one-off testing.

Annual blood tests worth considering:

Advanced TRT Blood Test – Despite the name, this test includes a range of tests that are important in later life. Prostate health, cholesterol and diabetes, hormones, iron status, liver health, and more. 

Optimal Health Blood Test – This is our most comprehensive health check and includes advanced heart markers such as Lp(a), which is worth doing at least once in your lifetime.

Which blood test should most men start with?
 

If you’re not sure where to begin, a broad health screen is usually the most useful starting point.

Tests like the Advanced Well Man Blood Test can provide insight into:

• Cholesterol
• Blood sugar
• Liver health
• Kidney health
• Testosterone
• Vitamins
• Energy-related biomarkers

For many men, the value of blood testing is about understanding health earlier, spotting trends over time, and making informed decisions before problems become harder to ignore.

The best blood tests for men?
 

In your 20s and 30s, testing is often about awareness, energy, hormones, recovery, and establishing a baseline. In your 40s and beyond, the focus shifts more towards prevention, cardiovascular health, metabolic health, and long-term screening.

You don’t need to become obsessed with tracking every possible biomarker to take your health seriously.

But understanding a few key ones at the right time? That can be genuinely useful.

 

 

 

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References 

1. NHS (2024) Sexually transmitted infections (STIs). (Accessed 5 May 2026) 
2. NHS (2024) What is testicular cancer? (Accessed 5 May 2026)
3. Bloodpressureuk.org. n.d. Blood Pressure UK (Accessed 5 May 2026)
4. NICE (2023) Cardiovascular disease: risk assessment and reduction, including lipid modification. (Accessed 5 May 2026)
5. Samaritans. 2020. Latest suicide data (Accessed 5 May 2026)
6. Prostate Cancer UK. 2017. Enlarged prostate (Accessed 7 May 2026)