A Checkup Today for a Healthier Tomorrow...

Just as we don't realize the value of what we have until we lose it, we often don't appreciate good health until we fall sick. Even Passenger in Let Her Go song says;

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home

Health is wealth and we will keep saying it peripherally, not that we don't know what we ought to do to maintain that health of ours but just that sometimes we are scared of approaching the truth, hence, seeing the saying as mere cliché rather than a call to action.

Why Do We Avoid Routine Checkups?

I was once talking to a man of what he feels about going to the hospital just for routine checkups and he told me, "I don't go for any routine checkups and won't ever start going to one because of whatever you will say because hospitals will always see something they will charge you for even when you're healthy"
That is the mindset we have over routine checkups and while it may be true for some occasions, there are other benefits we could get from routine checkups.

Some people also avoid checkups because they probably feel they are too young to be unhealthy while many other persons just like the man above are scared of the results without remembering that the results could save their lives too or haven't you thought of that?

For instance, there is a screening test for cervical cancer called pap smear done for women aged from 15 to 65 years which helps to detect cervical cancer in early stages and help start up treatment earlier and with this singular test, a lot of persons have been able to recover unscathed from the deadly illness, cervical cancer.

Source

Since I work in the hospital, I actually check myself atleast once a week. It's not basically doing the whole tests but routine vital checks such as the blood pressure values, the blood sugar levels, my respiratory rate and of course my weight and height. As common as these things look, they are big determinants of our health.

For instance, more than half of the country's population suffers from diabetes which would have been properly managed if there was a regular check to curtail it from even occuring in the first instance.

Hypertension has also become like headache in our country which would have been prevented by regular checkups and early discovery.

So also are your height and weight which helps for the Body mass index calculation which could be pointer to obesity and clogging of vessels (atherosclerosis)

Knowing their importance, I take routine checkups seriously and because it's easier for me to assess since it's my workplace, I have no reason not to take them serious too. And my next checkup of course will still be sometime this week, I really don't know when but before the week ends, there must be an opening for me to check myself.

The fact I'm opportuned to check myself almost all the time doesn't mean you should too, in fact, the ideal thing is a full checkup of atleast twice a year which may be affected by factors such as age and current health condition.

In as much as we have our fears as to why we really don't want to engage in routine checks, we should also ask ourselves, if avoiding doctor's visit is really worth the risk of facing bigger health crisis later in life?

Posted Using INLEO