In today’s fast paced life, we find ourself busy for everything but our Health. We all have forgotten the age old saying of Health Wealth to the digital yet busy lifestyle.
We fail to spare some valuable time for our own selves. We do not have the time to review our health condition, eat a balanced and timely meal, move ourselves appropriately, take a good night’s sleep, and on and on. With this, the older communicable diseases like Malaria, Typhoid and Polio have become curable but lifestyle related diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases and cancer are getting prevalent.
We fall sick one fine day and then we realize that we have run out of time. So if you want to lead a healthier life you should not only eat well and sleep well but also meet your doctor from time to time as part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This is what is called a regular health checkup.
This is also the reason why the Regular Health Checkups are becoming popular these days by health conscious individuals and even Organizations which are inculcating Annual Health Checkups as a mandatory practice for their employees. It is nothing but being responsible towards health.
What is a full body checkup?
A Full Body Check up includes blood tests, urine tests, stool tests, ECG, Dental checkup, X-rays and scans based on age and gender. For example women get Ultrasounds, PAP smear and Mammograms done while men get the PSA (Prostrate Specific Antigens). They also include Cancer screening and bone density / osteoporosis screening tests appropriate to age and gender.
In short, a Full health checkup is nothing but an assessment of your entire body and its functioning.
Why is a full body check important?
The benefits of a Full Body Health Checkup are very much obvious. It is an assessment or overview of a person’s general health. We all ensure to service our electronics appliances yearly, but do we do the same with our health? And then when we suddenly collapse with chest pain and discomfort we regret we didn’t maintain our health with an annual health checkup.
There could also be predisposing conditions based on family history where a regular health check helps in identifying life threatening diseases and prevention too.
Preventive Health Checkups ensure that diseases are detected early, many of which could be cured and prevented. There are many diseases which remain silent in our body and surface up in a life threatening manner. Hence, a preventive health checkup helps your doctor evaluate your state of well being and diagnose any potential health threats right at the beginning. That is why you need to see your doctor regularly and do regular health checkups – whether you are healthy or not.
Importance of Staying Fit
Leading a healthy life goes beyond just seeing your healthcare provider regularly. You also need to inculcate good habits and practices, which we call lifestyle. You need to consume a balanced diet and ensure that you include light to moderate activity as part of your daily routine for optimum health. Cut off sugar, salt, processed food, alcohol and tobacco from your life. These healthy habits are not only important to keep you fit and healthy but also to prevent you from lifestyle related disorders.
Mandatory tests under a Full body checkup:
1. When in the 20s and 30s ensure that you do the following checkups:
- Complete Haemogram
- Lipid Profile
- Diabetes Screen Test
- Liver Function Test
- Mini Kidney Profile
- Free Thyroid Profile
- Vitamins assessment for Vitamins B12 and D3
- Iron Deficiency Test
- Testes self check (for men)
- Breast self check(for women)
- Pap smear (for women) every 2 to 3 years
2. When in your 40s and above ensure your health check package includes all the above and these in addition:
- Cardiac Risk Markers
- Diabetes Risk assessors
- Lifestyle Profile test
- PSA (for men)
- Mammogram (for women)
3. When you hit your 50s and 60s the following need to be done in addition to the above :
- Cancer Screening Tests
- Osteoporosis Screening Tests
Make sure you get tested at regular intervals, eat healthy, exercise regularly, keep away from habits and addictions and follow the basic preventive measures. Keep healthy.