Tribune News Service

Pratchaya Leelapatchayanont

Being preventive instead of reactive to health issues or concerns is the number one way to keep up with your overall health, according to Dr. Alexys Allen with Independence Health System.

Allen recommends everyone schedule a visit with their physician once a year for a general health check — or more often if you have a concern or symptoms you don’t understand.

“From the preventive care approach, people are seeing annual visits for health care gaps, to improve your health overall, or to prevent issues with vaccines or various imaging instruments,” Allen said.

“An annual physical exam gives your physician an opportunity to review your health and see what things we can do to prevent poor outcomes.”

A common trend Allen sees is more obesity.

“It's no secret more and more people are meeting the criteria for obesity, and there are a lot of adverse health outcomes that come with that — such as diabetes and high blood pressure,” she said. “We are seeing more of that, and at younger ages.”

Allen said a general checkup consists of a lot of questions by a medical professional, and the answers to those questions will determine if further tests need to be scheduled.

A helpful tip Allen offered is to keep a written list of all the medications you take, the dosages, and how often you take them. Make a copy and bring it along to the visit. It will make the question-and-answer portion much easier.

“I would bring that to any health care encounters you might have either in the hospital or a physician’s office,” she said. “It helps us determine future interactions with drugs we might prescribe.”

Allen also suggested eating a balanced meal with half of all meals consisting of fruits and vegetables, a quarter whole grains and the final quarter healthy proteins. Further, it’s important to get 30 minutes of exercise five times a week.