Our health should always be our top priority. And still, we usually put our jobs, hobbies, and friends and family at the top of our lists of priorities, letting our health struggle and slowly worsen And when you let yourself go for too long, expect the recovery to be hard and long, unfortunately, sometimes even impossible. So what can you do to ensure your health is in top shape? Well, one of the best things you can do for yourself is practice regular health checkups. Here’s why these visits to your doctor are so important:
Saving money
Did you know that regular health exams can save you money? How can spending money on appointments save you money? Well, while some preventive exams cost money (depending on whether you have insurance or not), they cost much less than serious treatment, high-tech medication, complicated surgery, and rehabilitation. In the long run, prevention can ensure you never have to lose your job due to illness and receive astronomical bills after a hospital stay. Staying healthy can also reduce your insurance costs.
Forming healthy habits
We all try to live healthily but often fall behind with a good diet and exercise. During your regular health screenings, your doctor will measure your weight and ask about diet, activity, drinking, and smoking. When you receive your results, it can be a good wake-up call to start living a healthier life. And your doctor can help with a pep talk, great advice, and useful tips on how to ditch bad habits and replace them with good ones. Sometimes, all you need to get back on track is a little fright your doctor can give you. Also, if you’ve been trying to improve certain aspects of your health, such as lowering your bad cholesterol or controlling your blood pressure, your doctor can give you great insight into your health and tell you whether you need to continue on the same route or change something.
Protection against severe illnesses
Humans are often scared of doctors and what they might discover, so we choose to go about our days ignoring many warning signs from our bodies. These small pains or changes in the body’s functions can grow over time and become serious illnesses. And some diseases don’t even show symptoms until they get a good hold of your health. In both cases, during regular exams, your doctor can catch illnesses in their early stage, react with the right therapy and ensure your health stays intact. Illnesses that can be prevented when caught early and life-threatening when discovered too late are cancer, diabetes, and many cardiovascular conditions. For instance, endometrial cancer can be noticed during a regular gynecological exam and diagnosed with an endometrial biopsy. Depending on the results, you can start treatment as soon as possible and receive a great chance of getting back on your feet.
Review of your medication
If you’re taking some medication for a long time, your doctor will use your regular health checkup to see whether you might require a change in your therapy. You will be asked different questions about the state of your health due to medication and whether or not you notice any improvements or side effects. Depending on your answers, your doctor might choose to change your prescription, increase or decrease the dosage, and maybe even cancel the prescription altogether. Taking the wrong meds, missing the dosage, or taking meds for too long can do more harm than good, and regular health checkups can avoid those issues.
Developing a good relationship with doctors
And finally, your doctor should be someone you can confide in 100%, and the only way to feel comfortable doing so is to develop a good relationship with them. How do we build a good relationship with health providers? With regular visits and chats. The better your doctor knows you and the more chats you have about your physical and mental health, the bigger your medical history will be. Many doctors today, even in a time of digitalization and interconnectedness, find it challenging to treat patients because they have no record of their medical histories. Extensive medical history allows doctors to recognize certain issues quickly, treat your illness as a unique case, and provide you with the right treatment.
It’s very easy to book a health checkup today—you can even do it online—so there are no excuses why you don’t want to see your doctor. Commit to regular checkups and stay on top of your health in every situation!
