Preventive care is the most important step you can take for your health.
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It’s true - preventive care is the most important step you can take to manage your health. A comprehensive preventive care program can significantly reduce your chances for serious illness and other health conditions.
When children have regular well-child and dental visits its easier to treat and track their development and find health health problems earlier. Adults need screenings, dental check-ups, and annual physicals to review any changes that have occurred over the last year and identify risk factors that could lead to future health problems. We understand that preventive health care can be a hard sell when you feel completely healthy. However, it's a lot less expensive to practice preventive healthcare than to only seek help when there's a problem. Most health insurance plans will cover preventive care costs completely even if you haven't hit your deductible, making it a much more attractive option than dishing out thousands of dollars for treatments. |
Ways to Practice Preventive Care
So, now that you know how important preventive care is, how can you practice it? Here are some of the things you should be doing to maintain your health and prevent future problems:
So, now that you know how important preventive care is, how can you practice it? Here are some of the things you should be doing to maintain your health and prevent future problems:
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Wellness Exams
Wellness exams, also known as annual physicals, well child checks, and annual wellness visits, are essential for anyone, no matter their age or health history. This is where your provider will check things like blood pressure, heart rate, height, weight, cholesterol, and glucose levels. If you're a woman, you should be getting an additional annual exam with your gynecologist who will perform a pap smear and breast examination to screen for any potential health concerns. Mental Health Screenings
When people think of health care, oftentimes mental health is an afterthought. But unfortunately, depression and other mental health problems can lead to one of the leading causes of death in the United States: suicide. Additionally, mental health problems can lead to substance abuse disorder, which often results in overdoses. Also, mental health can negatively affect our activity levels, eating habits, and stress levels which leads to a wide range of other health complications. That's why mental health screenings for things like depression are so important and can help people focus on resolving those issues before they cause problems in other areas of their lives. |
Physical Health Screenings
In addition to an annual physical, Wellness Visit, or Well Child Check, there are numerous physical health screenings, depending on your gender, age, and health history, including:
Vaccines
Vaccines are perhaps the most popular type of preventive care because they're easy and extremely effective. Some of the vaccines you should be getting include:
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