Everyone knows the popular English phrase used commonly across the world – Prevention is better than cure. The quote is of the greatest scholar and Christian humanist of the Renaissance era, Desiderius Erasmus. Although it does not have a particular medical origin, the line can be substantially used in our everyday life in regards to health and fitness.
Good health is a state of being, that is improved and maintained in a general sense by eating and sleeping right, getting exercise and avoiding ingestions which can be harmful such as excess alcohol, sugar, salt or use of tobacco and drugs. However, that is not enough. There can be a thousand and one other external and internal factors that can cause problems in the system. It is your responsibility to keep a track of your body and make sure everything is in order, for your sake and your loved ones’.
A Preventive Health Check-Up or PHP is a thorough assessment of your physical health to identify any illness or risk factor that might be present so that you can go ahead with its minimization and treatment. If a person enjoys more or less stable physical conditions, then doing PHP once a year is adequate. However, the frequency should ideally depend on age and the health status of the individual.
We usually go and see a doctor when something is wrong, but a Preventive Health Check-Up centres will help detect the complication before it starts interfering with your well-being. Many diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, increased cholesterol levels et cetera, recently common owing to the typical urban lifestyle of most people, are silent in nature. They affect the body from the inside and slowly and quietly lead to degradation of health. There are hardly any early symptoms to detect it from the outside, which is why to require pathological screening to be identified in time.
For example, accumulation of cholesterol in blood vessels has no such outward symptoms, but upon crossing the level of normalcy, it can trigger cardiac arrests. A PHP facilitates early diagnosis of such ailments, thereby giving the patient a higher chance or recovery and prevent maximum damage.
Other than the obvious welfare of your health by giving it a timely treatment, PHP gives you a huge financial benefit that you might not even recognize. A disease, when detected in its later stages, require a much larger expense to be treated and can burn serious holes in your pocket and bank balance. A yearly or biannual PHP are relatively much more economical in hindsight.
Preventive Health Check-up Packages usually several tests like lipid profile, kidney and liver function, blood tests for anaemia and infections, glucose levels, chest x-ray, ECG, USG of abdomen organs and urine examination, other than regular blood pressure and pulse tests. Many centres include specific tests for cancer, STDs and bone diseases and mental health check-up as well, for a better service.
Before taking samples for the examination, you will be asked to appear in an empty stomach and thus will need to fast for 10-15 hours. If you already have a condition or have external installations in the body like a pacemaker or bone plates, let the centre know before the test.
