Ensuring your health remains a top priority might feel like just another task on your busy to-do list, but the reasons behind regular health checks are far too important to overlook.
These check-ups are not mere inconveniences; they’re your proactive measures towards safeguarding your well-being.
Regular health check-ups hold the potential to:
- Spot Early Warning Signs: The significance of these checks lies in their ability to detect health issues in their infancy, allowing timely intervention to prevent their progression.
- Unearth Preventable Risks: Many diseases evolve gradually. Risks may be beyond your control (like age and family history) or within your power to influence. Health checks aim to identify modifiable risk factors that could potentially thwart the advancement of chronic ailments. Tailored screenings might be required for women with existing health concerns or elevated risk profiles.
- Champion Heart Health: Among women aged 40 and above, heart disease ranks as the leading cause of mortality. Most heart conditions stem from atherosclerosis, wherein plaque accumulates in blood vessel walls. This silent process can lead to unstable plaques causing blockages or constricting arteries, compromising blood flow. This vascular concern applies to brain and leg arteries too.
- Prioritise Metabolic Health: Your metabolic health is a linchpin for multiple chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and dementia. Gauging your body’s energy management is pivotal. Blood sugar, insulin levels, and HbA1C offer insights into your body’s insulin sensitivity, a precursor to type 2 diabetes. Monitoring your waist circumference adds insights as to any unhealthy distribution of fat tissue. Blood screening can also monitor thyroid function, vitamin D levels and iron stores.
- Watch Over Kidney Health: An annual urine test serves as an indicator of renal function and could uncover early signs of dysfunction.
- Preserve Bone Health: Although bone health screening isn’t publicly funded in Australia, menopause presents an opportune time for a baseline bone density test to guide your understanding of your bone health.
- Embrace Cancer Screening: Swift identification of certain cancers translates into more effective treatments, and screenings make this possible. Mammograms are recommended every two years for women aged 50 and above to screen for breast cancer. Regular cervical smears every five years can detect viral particles linked to cervical cancer. Bowel cancer is screened by assessing blood presence in bowel movements every two years after the age of 50.
- Care for Sensory Health: Regular checks for hearing, teeth, eyesight, and skin health are also vital components of overall well-being.
Amidst the whirlwind of daily commitments, remember that regular health checks are not extraneous tasks but rather your informed investments in a healthier future. By proactively addressing potential health concerns, you’re taking charge of your well-being and enhancing your quality of life.
Safeguard the most precious asset you have – your health.
This information is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please see your health professional for advice that is personalised to you.
Key Take Aways
Regular health checks can identify early disease or preventable risk factors.
Some checks are recommended yearly, some every 2-5 years.
