You’re busy. You might have a job, a family, perhaps both. There is always something to do from a big project to little chores. You’re tired too. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be finding time to see your doctor regularly. Even if you feel perfectly fine, there are still a number of benefits to seeing your doctor every six months, and sticking to those appointments come what may. We understand that clearing enough time in your schedule to go to your doctor’s office when you’re feeling pretty much fine isn’t easy and it’s not necessarily fun, but it is essential, and here are the reasons why.
To Understand Your Health Risk
If your family has a history of any kind of condition or illness such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or anything else that could be dangerous and detrimental to your health (or even fatal if not taken care of) then you too could be a risk of these conditions.
By visiting your doctor and discussing these health risks, you can determine exactly the healthiest way to live your life. You can ask for advice about doing just that, and you can even have screening tests to help you understand more about your personal risk.
To Be Accountable
There’s no doubt about it; if we are left to our own devices when it comes to our health, we can sometimes make poor decisions. Eating too much processed food or take out, not exercising enough, staying up late, not taking medication when we’re meant to, and more, can all cause us health problems and despite knowing this, we do it anyway.
If we have regular appointments with our doctor set up, we will have to be more accountable for our health. You won’t want to have to explain why you’re heavier than you were, or why you haven’t refilled your prescription or why you’re not getting enough sleep when you could, in fact, be doing everything right and get a clean bill of health once you visit your doctor. Having someone to check in with to ensure we’re taking care of ourselves is important, and if it’s your doctor then it’s even better since they can seriously remind you of what you’re meant to be doing.
For Peace Of Mind
It’s easy to worry about your health. If you’re not a doctor and don’t have any medical knowledge, googling your symptoms is a simple thing to do, but understand the results of that searching can be concerning, and will often lead you down the wrong path. It can even cause you to have poor mental health as you become stressed and anxious about what might be wrong with you.
If you regularly see your doctor, you can have peace of mind that you are well and you won’t have to search for your symptoms and potentially get the wrong results. Your doctor will be able to examine you and put you in touch with any specialist such as a hernia surgeon or an OBGYN depending on whether extra checks need to be made or procedures carried out. Trust your doctor as they know what to do.
For Prevention
Linked to the point above is the idea of prevention. Problems can occur in even the fittest and healthiest of people, and even though you might be perfectly healthy and feel great this time around when your appointment is due, the next time things might be different, even if you hadn’t yet realized it.
Getting checked out twice a year is a good way to prevent any problems you do develop from getting worse. Getting simple blood tests, having your blood pressure looked at, even something as seemingly small and a doctor listening to your heart or asking if you’re sleeping well can uncover something. The more often you see your doctor, the less you’ll need to worry about anything sneaking up on you.
Lower Healthcare Costs
If nothing else on this list makes you think it’s time you started visiting your doctor more regularly then the fact that you can benefit from lower healthcare costs if you make twice-yearly appointments (and stick to them) might help to persuade you.
With good insurance, a doctor’s visit won’t cost too much anyway. However, even if you don’t have insurance, you can still save money in the long term. The more often you see your doctor, the sooner anything untoward will be spotted, and the sooner you can get treatment. Treatment at the start of a condition is much less expensive than if that condition had been allowed to get worse, so you could save a lot of money in this way.
