With regards to our longterm wellbeing, we should be proactive. It is similar to retirement planning in some ways. Everyone who is older than us advises us to begin taking it seriously when we are still young. A significant number of us don’t and hold on until we’re nearer to retirement age prior to stressing over ventures and investment funds and so forth. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and some people manage to get through it despite not starting their plans as soon as they should, but the same cannot be said for your health. If you don’t start making serious plans for your golden years until you’re in your middle years, you might already be suffering from conditions that could have been prevented years ago.
The most crucial aspect of maintaining a healthy lifestyle is preventative care. That includes going to the doctor for an annual checkup. A person can get a chronic illness or, even worse, a deadly disease for one of two main reasons. The first is based on lifestyle. An annual physical as part of preventative care can demonstrate that your diet, lack of exercise, or something else is affecting you in a negative way. The other major factor is unavoidable environmental or genetic factors. However, you may actually be able to save your life if you catch a disease early. Let’s take a look at some of the ways that preventative care can help you be healthier. If you haven’t had a physical in a while, you might want to give it another go now that you see how much of a difference it can make.
The role of your family doctor
One overlooked benefit of getting a checkup every year is that it actually strengthens and supports the relationship between the doctor and the patient. Indeed, there is trying involved to really take a look at your general wellbeing, yet this relationship is truly a vital part to the viability of deterrent consideration. A history is created when your doctor gets to know you and sees you often. In order to determine whether it appears as though a condition is developing, your doctor will be able to observe changes in you or compare your blood work from this year to that from the previous year. It may be more challenging to identify any changes in your body if you do not have that history to work from.
The significance of keeping a medical record is emphasized in this. For instance, if your blood pressure keeps rising year after year, you might have hypertension, which could make you more likely to have a stroke. In order to warn you of your increased risk of developing some of the most common chronic illnesses that affect millions of Americans, your doctor will look at a few key indicators in your blood work.
Important indicators to keep an eye on
Your doctor will probably check your cholesterol and blood pressure, which you probably already know about. These are both useful indicators of the likelihood of heart disease. Additionally, your cholesterol is three numbers. Although many people focus on the total, your LDL (bad cholesterol) and HDL (good cholesterol) levels are also important. These can be greatly affected by diet and exercise. Your doctor will also look at your blood sugar levels, both the ones you have now and those from ninety days ago. These could be a sign of pre-diabetes or that Type 2 diabetes is actually developing. Although this isn’t always the case, Type 1 is typically diagnosed at a young age.
Other aspects of preventative care
Preventative care doesn’t just stop at your family doctor. There are a lot of accounts of ladies who went for their yearly OBGYN visit feeling fine just to be informed that their test returned strange. A routine preventative appointment frequently results in the early detection of cancer. When cancer has progressed, troubling physical symptoms may not initially appear. Because of this, it is recommended that people over the age of 40 have a colonoscopy every ten years. One of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide is the silent growth of colon cancer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, early intervention can prevent many of the most prevalent chronic diseases. Although there is no guarantee that certain conditions will not develop due to environmental or genetic factors, most people can avoid many of them by changing their lifestyle. And if you do have a chronic illness, getting it caught early and starting treatment can make your life much better. In order to better comprehend how your body ages, you owe it to yourself to develop the habit of regularly seeking preventative care. To set up an appointment, give us a call right away. Danvers Family Doctors is here to provide you with the necessary medical care so that you can live a healthy life.