Preventive Health Care
August 14th 2006
Preventive health care is a way to try to stay healthy and prevent disease. Talk to your doctor about ways to stay healthy such as healthy habits, medicines and screening tests.
Healthy Habits
Good health habits include:
- Exercising each day.
- Maintaining a healthy weight.
- Eating at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
- Flossing, brushing your teeth and using mouthwash each day. See your dentist for regular check ups.
- Managing stress with relaxation such as meditation and yoga.
- Avoiding the use of tobacco products and street drugs.
- Limiting alcohol to 1-2 drinks each day. Pregnant women should not drink alcohol.
- Managing chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high blood cholesterol.
- Regular check ups with your doctors.
Medicines
- Talk to your doctor about medicines to prevent or manage disease.
- Make sure your immunizations or vaccine shots are up to date.
- Tetanus-diphtheria shot every 10 years.
- Flu shot each year.
- Pneumonia shot at age 65 and every 5-8 years thereafter.
- Measles, mumps and rubella shot if you were born after 1957.
- Talk to your doctor about a Varicella (chickenpox) shot, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B vaccines.
Check Ups and Screening Tests
Screening is checking for a disease when you have no signs. Diseases are easier to treat when they are found early. Talk to your doctor about your risk for certain diseases and when to have tests.
- Physical exam
- Dental exam
- Blood pressure check
- Blood sugar testing
- Blood tests such as cholesterol
- Colon cancer tests such as colonoscopy
- Depression
- Tuberculosis (TB) test
- Skin exam to look for changes in moles done by self and by doctor
- Sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing
- Vision exam
- Hearing exam
- Pap smear
- Breast exam, self and by doctor
- Mammography
- Osteoporosis tests
- Prostate cancer screening
- Testicular self exam
- Unexplained weight loss
- A prolonged fever
- A chronic cough or are coughing up blood
- Shortness of breath
- Pain or discomfort anywhere in the body
- Blood in your stool
- Tiredness
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