What is a full body checkup?
Ever wonder why schools or companies require people to go through medicals? Maybe it is routine or they really want to check if a person is healthy enough to do what is required.
The purpose of medicals, general health tests or full body check-ups is to examine your current health. It is a test to get a sense of what is going on inside your body.
Many heart, lung, and kidney conditions can be diagnosed with a simple blood tests.
Depending on what package you opt for, a full body checkup would include tests on blood pressure, kidney/liver screening, diabetes, thyroid and cancer screenings. The purpose is to check for diseases or health conditions in advance.
These tests will check if a person has hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol or prediabetes (blood sugar is slightly high, but not high enough to meet the definition of diabetes).
All of which cannot be sensed or felt, the only way to be aware of them before they develop into illnesses is to be tested. It is recommended to check your blood pressure as often as you can.
Signs and Symptoms
There are many recommendations out there, what is definitely not on that list is to ignore health issues, however tiny they may seem. Neglecting or avoiding health problems will not make them go away. These are signs that a person may be at risk of disease.
More often than not, people do not take their issues as possible health issues. For instance, weight gain, lack of energy, depression and anxiety can be the result of the thyroid gland producing too many or not enough hormones.
If this is the case, it would be extremely stressful for a person to continue to live like this not knowing that their weight or mental health is a hormonal problem. This would be discovered with a thyroid function test which is part of a full body check-up.
Risk Factors
Risk factors are things that increase a person\’s chance of developing a disease. If a person has one or more of these factors, they need to get full body checkups regularly.
These factors are (this list is not exhaustive):
- Age
- Family history of the particular disease
- Obesity
- Physical inactivity
- Smoking
- Unhealthy diet
- Poor nutrition
- Drinking often
- Binge Drinking
- Sexual activity
20s
Yes, healthy and fit 20 year olds need full body check-ups. If there are no existing risk factors, those in this age group should get one at least twice in their 20s. This full body check-up should include the following tests:
- Diabetes
- Prediabetes
- Thyroid function test
- Liver function test
- Kidney function test
- Blood pressure
- Cholesterol
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
- Cancer screening
30s & 40s
People in this age bracket should get full body check-ups at least three times in their 30s. The following tests are important:
- Breast cancer screening
- Cervical cancer screening
- Prostate cancer screening
- Diabetes
- Prediabetes
- Thyroid function test
- Liver function test
- Kidney function test
- Blood pressure
- Cholesterol
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
50s
At this age, people need to do full body check-ups more regularly, possibly every two years. What a person’s lifestyle has been will determine their level of risk to illness.
The following tests should be done:
- Breast cancer screening
- Cervical cancer screening
- Prostate cancer screening
- Diabetes
- Prediabetes
- Thyroid function test
- Liver function test
- Kidney function test
- Blood pressure
- Cholesterol
- Hepatitis C
60 & Older
At age 65 and older, the recommendation is that everyone start yearly tests. If certain illnesses have already been diagnosed, checking on specific things like blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol can even be done on a monthly or even a weekly basis.
Full body tests can include:
- Breast cancer screening
- Cervical cancer screening
- Prostate cancer screening
- Diabetes
- Prediabetes
- Thyroid function test
- Liver function test
- Kidney function test
- Blood pressure
- Cholesterol
- Hepatitis C
