Most people don’t see the doctor if they’re not coming down with an illness. You’re probably one of them: people who just stack on medicine for cough and colds and only consult a physician when they have an ailment that can’t be treated by such drugs. If the previous sentence was spot-on for you, then you should change your ways. You should pay the doctor a visit, even just on a yearly basis.
If you’re not convinced, here are a few reasons why an apple a day shouldn’t keep you away from the doctor every year.
Even healthy people get sick
Just because you’re in top physical condition doesn’t mean nothing wrong is brewing underneath the pinkness of your health. In this stressful, fast-paced, and polluted present-day world, it’s easy to encounter factors that can negatively affect your health no matter how good you are at taking good care of it. And if self-effort isn’t enough, then you’re going to need help - that of a doctor.
You have unhealthy practices
You may be feeling fine and dandy, but the way you live your life isn’t. You get stressed out, you sleep late, you either eat too little or too much, you don’t exercise at all, and you have vices. All these things you do cause a lot of harm on your body; just because you don’t feel their ravages doesn’t mean you’re unaffected by them. If left unchecked, you could have a health problem in the long run, so it’s best to see an expert before the detrimental things you’ve done in the past catch up and overrun you.
Your family has medical conditions
If your parents, uncles, and siblings share a particular disease or two, it’s more than likely that you have it as well. Don’t disregard that risk; see a doctor. By doing so, you will know how you can adjust the way you live to avoid such health problems from developing.
Prevention is better than cure
It is always better to find out about your current medical condition and potential problems than to not know at all. That is because by having the knowledge about your physical shape, you can adjust your lifestyle accordingly to prevent the medical problems you are at risk for. Also, through an annual checkup, you can find out which unpreventable diseases you should be preparing for.
Changes happen in your life
You may be healthy and strictly observant of healthy practices now, but that doesn’t mean it would still be the case in the future. The only constant in life is change, and change prompts people to modify their lifestyle, which includes diet, physical activity, sleep, and other factors that affect health, for better or worse. In order to assess what these constant changes do to your health and how you can act accordingly in response to them, an annual checkup is in order.
There’s nothing wrong with visiting the doctor yearly even though nothing seems wrong with you. In fact, it’s the right thing to do. After all, it’s better to rely on sound medical advice than be complacent with what you’re feeling.