What do Regular Check-ups Consist of?

As you age, health checks are a crucial element of maintaining excellent health.?

Health screenings can identify issues early, when there are the best possibilities for a successful recovery. For instance, although colon cancer is the most curable type of cancer, it frequently presents little symptoms in its early stages. An easy-to-remove colon polyp (growth) can be found during a regular inspection and can be identified before it develops into cancer.?

The initial step is to see your doctor to go through the tests that are best for you depending on your age, gender, and health history. these are some few notable things that involved in health screenings:

Blood tests:

The full blood count (FBC) is one of the most common blood tests. It is often done as part of a routine check-up. This test measures many different parts of your blood, including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets which reveals various signs to health practitioners;

• Red blood cell levels that are higher or lower than normal could be a sign of dehydration, anaemia, or bleeding.?
• White blood cell levels that are higher or lower than normal could be a sign of infection, blood cancer, or an immune system disorder. White blood cells fight infections and diseases.
• Platelet levels that are higher or lower than normal may be a sign of a clotting disorder or a bleeding disorder. Platelets are blood cell fragments that help your blood clot.
• Haemoglobin levels that are lower than normal may be a sign of anemia, sickle cell disease, or thalassemia.?
• Hematocrit levels that are too high might mean you’re dehydrated. Low hematocrit levels may be a sign of anaemia. Hematocrit is a measure of how much space red blood cells take up in your blood.
• Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) levels that are lower than normal may be a sign of anaemia or thalassemia. MCV is a measure of the average size of your red blood cells.

Now let's go through some benefits of regular health screening;

1. Health screening helps in identifying health risks early.

Both acute and chronic conditions benefit from early diagnosis. The most obvious is cancer, since early detection can prevent malignant tissue from spreading elsewhere in the body. The earlier the diagnosis, the more effective the treatment will be.

According to Cancer Research UK, bowel, breast, ovarian, prostate and lung cancer survival rates are drastically improved with early diagnosis.

2. Helps to make informed lifestyle changes

By identifying ways in which your lifestyle is affecting your overall wellness, health screens can help you to take positive steps towards a healthier you.

At the bare minimum, everyone should make an effort to keep an eye on their BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol and general vitality. Booking a health screen can help to incentivise you to be more mindful of your health and address any bad habits.

3. Family History & Genetic Risk Factors can be easily detected

Sporadic visits to your GP are not in-depth enough to assess your family history. This means you could be at risk of having an inherited condition, which may manifest itself later on in life.

By knowing your risks, you might be able to make lifestyle changes to reduce risks of developing hereditary diseases. Diabetes, heart failure and hypertension can run in families, but a healthy lifestyle can help reduce extremities.

4. Specific Health Screening also helps in diagnosis

Health screening is carried out on a case-by-case basis. This means factors specific to the individual are taken into account when deciding which tests are required. Not only is this more cost effective and convenient, it ensures the diagnostics are well targeted.

Age, gender, family history and life-style, can all influence certain disease risk factors. Therefore, any assessment plan should be specifically tailored to the individual.

5. This grants access to gather deeper understanding in research & patient empowerment

Medicine is ever-evolving and it's important that patients are treated in line with the latest research findings.

Thank you for making it to the end of this read, staying healthy starts with a change of perspective to health related issues. Here at Essence Medical Laboratory, we take pride in providing high quality medical care! This includes tailor made health check ups, blood tests and screenings. As a way to stay healthy and fit we urge you to frequently do health check ups.