Easy Ways to Safeguard Your Health

Empowering Ways to Safeguard Your Health

Until we are faced with a medical issue, many of us take our good health for granted and may neglect key components of preventative care. Safeguarding health begins with information and awareness.

As children, we were taught the basics of daily preventative care. Parents’ insistence on maintaining proper hygiene such as brushing our teeth and washing our hands, eating balanced diets full of fruits and vegetables while limiting sweets, and consistently clocking approximately 8 hours of a good night’s sleep, bolstered our health as we grew and developed into vibrant adults. As adults, however, we became distracted by the demands of hectic lives and did not keep up with taking care of ourselves, especially by incorporating more sophisticated steps that support continued health.

There are a number of annual appointments that significantly reduce your health risks. An annual physical, including fasting bloodwork to check your cholesterol, is the first opportunity for you and your doctor to discover the beginnings of a health concern. When you postpone or avoid that visit altogether you are widening the gap in your doctor’s knowledge of your current condition and can unwittingly allow a reversible health issue to develop into a more serious medical problem. Similarly, teeth cleaning and dental exam are recommended, ideally every six months, but should never be delayed for more than a year. It not only monitors your teeth and gums so you can address dental complications quickly and with minimal physical and financial discomfort, but your dentist can also spot clues of other medical conditions when he examines your teeth, gums, and tongue.

Don’t forget your quarterly visit with your acupuncturist for a seasonal tune-up; it will help you keep all systems in balance and harmony and often avoid problems which could be seasonal.  It will increase your energy, decrease any pain you might have and contribute immensely to your well-being.

Depending on your stage in life, annual tests for both female and male specific problems, while unpleasant, are far more bearable than the procedures involved with a more serious diagnosis they are attempting to detect at an earlier, more manageable stage. The time-line recommendations for these preventative screens have recently been fluctuating and have even become the subject of intense debate within the medical community. Furthermore, our health insurance can often dictate whether we can afford these exams. You have to trust your own instincts on this, but make sure you are making informed decisions rather than avoiding something simply because it seems inconvenient or uncomfortable.

On an annual, or better yet, a semi-annual calendar schedule in all your appropriate medical visits.  If you do it all at one time and in advance it is usually possible to plan several visits on one day, thereby utilizing your valuable time while ensuring you won’t forget the dates.  It is easier to forget one appointment than 3 or 4.

Take time for yourself, you deserve it.

Dr. Reenah McGill