Pay Bill Avoiding Your Annual Physical? Why it Matters to Your Well-Being
Even the healthiest of people should be scheduling an annual physical exam with a family practice doctor, yet not everyone does. Often people believe that if they’re not feeling sick or don’t need a prescription then there is no need to take time out of their busy schedules to see a doctor.
However, visiting a doctor annually may be crucial to your overall well-being. Even if you feel healthy now, seeing a family practice physician annually can help you find ways to live even healthier than you are now. This exam is important especially for identifying and addressing behavioral illnesses and for performing screenings to diagnose any diseases you may have.
Healthy Lifestyle
Simple changes in your routine that can have a big impact on your long-term health. But many people don’t know where they need to change or how.
If you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or be more active, this is where preventative medicine and your annual physical can come in handy. It gives you a chance to talk with a doctor about your health goals and learn more about any other habits that may be inhibiting your good health.
One of the main purposes of your exam is help keep you healthy and to encourage a lifestyle that will allow for that. Talk with your family care doctor about your goals and let them help you make it happen.
Address Poor Behavioral Habits
As you work with your physician to make goals for healthier living, he or she can uncover any possible behavioral health issues that could result in larger problems later down the road.
Behavioral ailments are often associated with mental health, but many mental illnesses, because they are caused by neurological and/or biological factors, cannot be cured by changes in behavior or lifestyle. Behavioral ailments, on the other hand, stem from these behavioral choices and habits. Overall wellness, then, be improved by identifying these ailments and making behavior changes.
Addictions, substance abuse and eating disorders are common examples of such behavioral ailments your family practice doctor can help diagnose. They then can offer suitable treatment options and support, as well as act as an accountable party for you to follow up with on your success in the treatment.
Screenings and Tests
This may be one of the more valued aspects of preventative exams. To have cancer screenings and other diagnostic tests performed gives patients peace of mind. When diseases are diagnosed, they can begin to be treated much sooner before they get any worse by having that annual exam.
Family practitioners want to make sure that the proper care is taken for your health sooner rather than later. That’s one big reason why yearly physicals are so highly encouraged. By scheduling a regular doctor’s visit you can find any diagnoses earlier on than you would have if you waited until you felt poorly to see the doctor.
What Are You Waiting For?
If you’ve been avoiding your annual physical, stop and schedule a preventative wellness exam today! You may be subjecting your future self to more health problems just by avoiding one simple, annual check-up.
So do something you’ll thank yourself for in 20 years and go have your annual physical exam. For one of the longest-serving family practice clinics in St. George, visit Callahan Clinic. Call today to meet with our compassionate family doctors that make their patients and preventative care their top priorities.
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