Why We Should Give Importance to Health Checkups
“Prevention is better than cure”, the phrase is perfectly suitable to an
ailing individual. The common man has often been heard saying this to the one
who has fallen sick in some way or the other. Sickness, illness, being unwell
showcases the importance of health checkups. What are these heath checkups? A
health checkup is a regular examination of a human being’s body functionality.
These checkups are conducted to determine whether the limbs, nerves, joints,
muscles are all in good shape and working properly. One should never give it a
miss as it can aggravate an ailment which may not be known to either patient or
doctor.
In reality, we do not give due significance to health checkups. We often
tend to become lazy when it comes to examination of body. Our work schedule is
such that 9 out of 10 times we don’t get to visit a doctor. It is this lack of
interest that hampers the functioning of body later on. Most of the patients complain
about developing acute symptoms of a particular disease when they age. However,
doctors have a simple explanation for this. They say, “If you would have given
a part of your hectic 24 hours towards health checkups, things would shape
different today.”
Structure of a health checkup
Besides examining overall body functionality which includes eyes, ears
and teeth, an average health checkup evaluates the working of lungs, heart,
kidneys, digestive and immune system. Sometimes some intricate cancer-specific
tests are also included in regular health checkups such as Prostate-Specific
Antigen (PFA) for men and mammography, gynecological examinations for women.
The list of some common tests in a regular health checkup is given
below:
·
General
examination (weight, BP, pulse rate etc.)
·
Lab investigation
comprising a complete Haemogram.
·
Lipid
profile to check the functioning of heart.
·
Liver
function test.
·
Kidney function test.
·
Blood
sugar.
·
Chest
X-Ray.
·
Treadmill
test to check the heart rate.
·
Ultrasonography
of the abdomen.
·
Routine
urine examination.
Getting the right kind of health checkup is detrimental for our health. Regular
health checkups are essential to detect any existing health issue which may
pose problems later on.