In the olden days, people only saw doctors when they were ill. The patient either went to the doctor themselves, or the doctor paid them a home visit if the patient happened to be too sick. This practice is not followed today. Nowadays, people regularly book an appointment with their doctors and go for checkups. Doctors also remind their patients to go back for regular checkups after one of these scheduled appointments.
In recent years, regular checkups have become a vital part of health care. It is all because people are becoming more aware in regards to the importance of wellness checkups. Decades back, people would have disregarded it as a waste of time since they were not noticeably ill. Today, since mankind continues to become educated in numerous fields, people can understand why these checkups are worth their time and why the prevention of illnesses and diseases is important.
Here are some of the benefits of wellness checkups.
· Decreases the chances of you getting sick
Since you go in for regular checkups, your doctor can warn you about anything that might cause you to become ill. For instance, you go to your dermatologist for a regular checkup. If a new product you are trying out happens to have negative effects on your skin, your dermatologist can warn you about it and ask you to stop using the product.
· Early detection and treatment of potential diseases
Wellness checkups give you the advantage to detect potential diseases before they develop to be a bigger issue. Detecting health conditions in the beginning stages is always preferable. It gives you the opportunity to get treated right away before the situation becomes too complicated and gets out of hand.
· Increases the chances of you getting cured of a disease
Regular checkups will allow your doctor to find out any illness you may have developed in its earliest stage. This increases the chances of you getting cured as you will get treated early on. For example, a patient with stage one cancer will have more chances of being cured than a stage, four cancer patient. This is simply because the condition of the stage one patient is not as bad as the patient in stage four. Therefore, the stage one patient has a higher possibility of being cured.
· The risk of complications from existing health conditions is reduced
Another benefit of wellness checkups is that they reduce the risk of complications arising from pre-existing health conditions. Take cholesterol levels and heart attacks, for example. Cholesterol causes fatty deposits to develop in your blood vessels. Such deposits make it difficult for blood and oxygen to pass through the blood vessels and arteries when they grow. If these fatty deposits break down all of a sudden, they can form clots in the blood vessels. This, in turn, results in a heart attack. Frequent wellness checkups will allow the doctor to monitor cholesterol levels and prevent them from causing complications or health risks.
Similarly, if you have any such health conditions, your doctor will be able to monitor them on a regular basis and prevent them from causing complications for you.
· Increases your life expectancy
Wellness checkups also increase your life expectancy. This is because you do not fall ill or happen to get treated very soon if you do. As a result, potentially life-threatening health conditions also get treated in their earlier stage, which, in turn, increases your life expectancy.
· Health care costs are minimized
One of the greatest benefits of getting regular checkups done is that the amount of money you spend on health care is reduced. As frequent wellness checkups allow you to get treated and cured of any potential illnesses you may have had, it keeps you from spending too much money on medical services. As aforementioned, the illnesses get identified in their early stages which do not require services that require a lot of money. If you were to get treatment for a disease in its later stages, you would have to pay more money for the treatment. Hence, regular checkups help you to keep from burning a hole in your wallet or bank account.
· Get updated about latest medical technologies
Frequent visits to your doctor for regular checkups mean that you will eventually form a good partnership with your doctor. You might end up going from looking for an ice-breaker to sharing stories and joking around with your doctor like you are old friends. As a result, your doctor might end up updating you on the latest and most effective medical technologies out there when they share stories of their own. You can get to know the advantages and disadvantages of many different medical practices as well.
Regular checkups usually include various tests and screenings. For instance, physical exams, body temperature checks, hearing tests, eyesight tests, pap smears, blood pressure readings, and blood tests are the most common tests done when people go in for a checkup. Blood tests are usually done to monitor cholesterol levels. It is recommended that people get cancer screenings and sensory screenings done at least twice a year.
The tests conducted during these checkups also happen to vary for each and every individual. Age, gender, and medical history are factors that affect which tests get conducted during checkups. For instance, a child will not get the same test done as a middle-aged man. Also, a teenager most definitely will not be getting the same tests done as an elderly woman in their late sixties.
In conclusion, the benefits of wellness checkups listed above only happen to be a handful of the many different advantages. Make sure to go to your doctor’s for regular checkups. If you are a parent, ensure that your child gets regular checkups done too. As wise people say, “better to be safe than sorry.” Spending a little bit of your time to get a medical checkup done is a better option than suffering from a medical disease in the future.