How to measure body pH levels?

Does anyone know the easiest way to measure pH levels in urine or saliva,
without having to go through the whole lab process with a doctor's referral?

I’m thinking along the lines of just picking up some kind of at-home test kit from a drugstore—kind of like those pregnancy tests you grab at CVS. Just simple and direct.
Thanks

There are those little urine test strips you can pick up that let you estimate things like pH levels, though they aren't exactly pinpoint accurate if you're looking for precision. I’d imagine they might even work for saliva, too. You can usually find them sold in packs of 100 at most local pharmacies or maybe even over at the Mayo Clinic. Now, if you head specifically to the Mayo Clinic, they might carry specialized pH test strips designed just for that purpose, which would be a bit more reliable, even if they do come with a higher price tag.

That being said, trying to gauge your body's overall pH just by looking at your urine is a bit like trying to judge the temperature of an entire house by touching one single windowpane; it really won't give you the full picture of what's happening inside your system. To get a truly accurate reading of your internal balance, you'd really need to have some bloodwork done. But it makes me wonder, what is the ultimate goal behind all this monitoring?

I was reading this book called "Natural Remedies They Don't Want You to Know About," and the author goes on about the body's pH levels. It was something along the lines of how higher acidity makes the body more susceptible to cancer... or some theory like that. I'm actually curious about this—how would one even go about measuring that?
I can't recall all the specifics since I read it over a year ago, but that one particular detail just stuck with me.

I’m actually working through that book right now, which got me thinking.
The author writes about this stuff like you can just measure it at every single turn.
But let’s be real—it’s clearly not that simple.
And regarding what northerncobra27 said—well, I’d love to be 100% sure I’m being a total idiot at any given moment.
Though, I have to disagree on the whole blood thing...
Blood is pretty much the last thing in your system to turn acidic.
So, if you ask me, saliva and urine are
way more obvious indicators that something is going sideways with your body.

So, those test strips actually exist? Okay, that’s a solid tip. Thanks.😉

I honestly have no clue what that book is claiming, but I really hope it doesn't suggest that blood ever actually becomes acidic. Even if it did—which is highly unlikely—you wouldn't be able to measure its pH levels like that, believe me. I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding here; what you all are discussing is measuring the pH of various bodily fluids, which is a completely different thing from measuring the state of the entire organism itself.

If I were looking for real answers, I’d probably just walk over to the Mayo Clinic and see if they carry specialized pH testing strips designed specifically for that purpose. Those standard strips meant for checking urine probably won't cut it when you're dealing with saliva. You see, urine pH typically fluctuates anywhere from 5 to 9, but the range for saliva is definitely much tighter, likely hovering somewhere around 6 to 7, so those minor shifts might not even show up on a strip meant for urine.

And what does the pH level actually need to be?

Just a quick heads-up, if you want to dive deep into how pH levels work in the body, you can find everything you need in Guyton : physiology.

So, when you're looking at blood samples, the standard pH range usually sits right between 7.35 and 7.45... but honestly, there's so much nuance to these metabolic questions that things can definitely swing outside those numbers, whether it’s because of an underlying health issue or just the body's own way of trying to balance itself out through compensation mechanisms...

So, what should the actual range be for urine specific gravity and overall levels?

Casey Palmer5, thanks for the heads-up on that recommendation. 🙂

So, did you guys grab those tapes?
And?