Staying on Top of Your Health

You keep track of deadlines at work, your child's soccer schedule, your car maintenance and everything else that needs to be done, but what about your health? Managing your health should be the most important task at hand, but most of us put it on the back burner. Monitoring your health is just as important as anything else, if you're not healthy eventually you won't be able to meet the day to day demands your life brings. So...why not stop, take a minute and get your health in order.

There are a variety of ways to do this, but the key is organization. If you're one of those people who rely on daily planners maybe try integrating your blood pressure readings and doctor's appointments into your calendar, or use a separate planner just for medical use. They actually make products specifically for this reason like pocket journals and medical folders. Other information you might want to keep in your medical journal are your allergies, any medications your taking, lab reports, test results and anything else that will help you keep track of your body.

After you have your information organized, try to figure out the last time you had your yearly physical. It's called a yearly exam for a reason, a lot can happen to your body in a year. If you can't remember the last time you had one or it's been longer than a year, buck up and schedule an appointment. Before you go see your doctor make sure you write down a list of all the medications you're taking, even if it's just Advil or Prilosec and if you feel like you want to be overly prepared with your new found organization, bring your medical planner!

Home Tests are also not a bad idea to get a clearer picture of where you stand. Now a days you can find home blood pressure monitors that are very accurate, as well as home tests such as cholesterol tests, colorectal cancer screenings and glucose testing. As you can see keeping track of your health is not hard, it just takes a little bit of time and a tad bit of effort. So put away some time for yourself and look into your health, because when your health lags, you lag.