Your health should be the most important thing that matters in your life. It can never be stressed enough the importance of having regular health checkups. Although very many people ignore this, it can really help in extending your lifespan. This is the only way you can keep tabs with your body.
The aim of regular health checkups is to give you a thorough overview of your body. And needless to mention, there is no standard procedure for a health checkup. Often, different physicians have different ways of doing medical examinations. However, the examination will always contain questions about your lifestyle and family history. Your doctor may also measure your height and weight, blood pressure, and also conduct a blood test. There may be more tests depending on your age, gender, and clinical history. For example, male patients usually undergo a prostate exam to check for prostate cancer while female patients usually check for cancerous lumps on their breasts. All the health tests done during a health checkup serve a specific purpose.
Here are 4 major reasons why health checkups should be done periodically.
1. To prevent disease or injury before it occurs.
Health checkups consist of a personal conversation between you and your doctor. This conversation will entail discussions about your habits, diet, home environment, work environment, and any other details that your doctor may see crucial for your health.
Based on this conversation, your doctor will be able to determine if there is any risk of disease or injury and counter it before it occurs.
For example, if you are in an environment that poses a risk of contracting preventable diseases such as measles and tetanus, your doctor will provide immunization against them. If your work environment poses potential hazards, your doctor will advise you on the safety measures you can take. In fact, many people working full time in offices suffer from constant back, neck, and shoulder pains resulting from poor posture. Experts from My Back Relief Clinic say that bad posture can also cause shortness of breath due to a decrease in the volume of air reaching the lungs. Your doctor can advise you on good sitting postures that would prevent all your work-related health conditions.
2. Early detection of health problems.
Some health conditions are best treated during their early stages. A good example is Cancer. Although there is no proven scientific cure for it, detecting it at its early stages and undergoing immediate treatment can have it cured. This is one of the best benefits of having regular health checkups. Furthermore, it can save you a whole lot of money as treating a disease in its early stages is way cheaper.
3. To help manage and soften the impact of an ongoing complex disease.
Regular health checkups can help you to be in control of a previously diagnosed health condition. For example, if the doctor had already established that you have heart disease, he can provide you with a plan of how to prevent heart attacks. Good management of an ongoing disease or injury will improve your ability to function as well as increase your life expectancy.
Regular health checkups will help you live a healthy lifestyle. This should be done at least once every year. You shouldn’t just go to your doctor when you have a problem or seeking specific treatment. Many deadly diseases do not show physical symptoms. You do not want to be caught unawares when a disease has already developed.
To read more on topics like this, check out the health category.