While some find the idea of health screenings intimidating and a bit daunting, others feel that health screenings and routine checkups are not all that important.
But preventative care is essential for these five unarguable reasons.
Early Detection Can Make Treatments More Effective
In reality, most diseases and chronic conditions show no notable signs or symptoms early on. You could have cancer and not know until it reaches a later stage, which is why cancer is widely considered a silent killer. The same applies to various other health ailments like autoimmune diseases.
This highlights the primary goal of health screenings – to identify diseases in the earliest stage. By identifying conditions in their infant stage, treatments will automatically be more effective and far less invasive.
Prevent Ailments From Spiraling Into Chronic Conditions
Catching health ailments early on is the most effective way to prevent chronic conditions. At the same time, ailment complications can also be avoided. When symptoms are overlooked, they can worsen and become even more harmful to your overall health.
Your doctor can recommend treatments and relevant lifestyle changes to stop the progression of various kinds of conditions.
Contain Infectious Diseases
When it comes to infectious diseases, the COVID-19 pandemic shed ample light on the general importance of health screenings. COVID-19 rapid tests were a standard measure of containing the virus. With this, the same is applicable to other infectious diseases and viruses.
Not only will you be treated immediately for the infection, but you can also implement isolation measures to prevent spreading the virus to friends, family, and colleagues.
Manage Blood Sugar And Blood Pressure Better
While low or high blood sugar puts you at risk of diabetes, high or low blood pressure is also a concern. Low blood pressure can spiral into anemia, while high blood pressure will dramatically increase the risk of stroke, heart disease, and other severe ailments.
Basic health screenings typically include blood pressure and sugar checks. Once you know the details of your blood pressure and sugar levels, your doctor can recommend dietary changes and, in certain cases, medications that will help you improve these levels and prevent chronic developments.
Boost Your Mental Health
While there’s an assortment of health screenings that assess your physical well-being, there are also screenings to evaluate your mental health. The general health questionnaire (GQH), insomnia severity index (ISI), the patient health questionnaire for depression (PHQ), depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21) are just a few mental health screenings that can identify and treat various ailments of the mind.
Health screenings are an essential measure of identifying and preventing various health ailments before they can progress into chronic, life-threatening conditions. Instead of brushing off your annual checkup with your healthcare practitioner, prioritize checkups that could ultimately save your life. With that said, identifying health concerns and confirming your health will give you invaluable peace of mind; instead of merely hoping you don’t have any underlying health concerns, you can take action to get control of your overall health and quality of life.
Preventative care is the practice of taking measures to prevent diseases or health problems before they occur, such as getting regular check-ups, screenings, immunizations, and counseling
