The Importance of Regular Health Checkups

From childhood, we have heard the saying: "Prevention is better than cure". Regular health checkups just let you do that. They help you take charge of your health. Regular health checkups help you assess your current health condition and take steps to maintain good health for the future. In this article, we will understand the importance of regular health checkups.

Importance of regular health checkups

Some of the reasons why you should undergo regular health checkups include the following:

1) Early-Stage diagnoses of any illness

Right now, you are feeling healthy and good; hence, you will question the need to go for a health checkup. However, you need to understand that certain illnesses start developing in the body years before they throw up any symptoms. For example, an individual with cancer may sometimes see symptoms when the disease has reached the third or fourth stage, making treatment complex and expensive.

However, a regular health checkup can diagnose a disease like cancer at the first stage. Early stage diagnosis may also aid in treatment without surgery, and lower treatment costs compared to late stage detection.

2) Health checkups due to family medical history and profession

You may be required to undergo a regular health checkup due to your medical history. If you have suffered from a particular illness earlier and recovered, the doctor may advise regular checkups to monitor your health. For example, if you have recovered from a heart illness, the doctor may recommend specific heart-related tests every quarter, six months, or annually.

Certain diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc. are hereditary. If someone in your family has suffered from any hereditary disease, the doctor may advise specific tests to monitor if you are vulnerable to it. Your profession or general lifestyle may also put your health at risk. If your profession constantly exposes you to dust, smoke or other forms of pollution, or you are a regular consumer of tobacco or alcohol, your doctor may advise certain specific tests to check any early signs of respiratory or other diseases.  Along with a comprehensive health insurance plan, you may buy a critical illness insurance plan to protect you financially against these hereditary diseases. ManipalCigna Lifestyle Protection Critical Care Plan provides a sum insured of up to Rs. 3 crores and covers up to 30 critical illnesses with lumpsum and staggered payout options.

3) Regain good health with lifestyle changes

In the earlier section, you saw how a regular checkup can help diagnose diseases at an early stage. When a disease is diagnosed at an early stage, it may be possible to cure it with specific lifestyle changes and short-term medication.

For example, a regular health checkup can help you diagnose illnesses like high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, high cholesterol levels, etc., at an early stage. Consider the case of an individual who is a pre-diabetic or whose blood pressure or cholesterol is at the higher end of the normal range. In such a scenario, since these illnesses have been diagnosed at an early stage, the doctor may suggest specific lifestyle changes and monitor the illness before starting the medication.

For example, the doctor may recommend a pre-diabetic person to avoid sugar entirely or shift to foods with a very low glycaemic index. Along with that, the doctor may recommend regular exercise and other lifestyle changes. With these changes, the individual may be able to manage the blood sugar levels without medication. However, in such cases, the individual should consult their doctor regularly and monitor their blood sugar levels constantly.

Similarly, if an individual's blood pressure or cholesterol is at the higher end of the normal range, the doctor may suggest specific lifestyle changes. These include eating healthy foods, exercising, meditation, proper sleep routine, managing stress levels, etc. With these lifestyle changes, the individual's blood pressure or cholesterol may revert to the normal range, and the individual may be able to manage without medication. However, as mentioned earlier, the individual should do regular doctor consultations and undergo routine health checkups to monitor the progress.

Thus, with regular health checkups, an individual can diagnose illnesses at an early stage and, in some cases, regain good health with lifestyle changes and without medication.

4) Monitor the progress of ongoing treatment

If an individual is already suffering from an illness, regular health checkups are required to monitor ongoing treatment progress. For example, for an individual with type 2 diabetes, the doctor will recommend a routine test to check the blood glucose levels. The test reports will help the doctor monitor the treatment progress and decide the future course of medication.

Similarly, the doctor will recommend a routine test for other illnesses like thyroid to check the T3, T4, and TSH levels. Based on the test results, the doctor will decide the future treatment.

5) Pricing of health insurance

Health insurance companies require some applicants to undergo a regular health checkup when buying a health plan. A health checkup helps the insurance company to assess the health risk and accordingly decide the premium.

Based on the health checkup report, the health insurance company may take one of the following decisions:

a) If the test reports are normal, accept the application as a standard risk and apply the regular premium.

b) If the test report indicates an illness, classify the applicant as a sub-standard risk and accordingly take a decision. For a sub-standard risk, the company may charge a higher premium, exclude the illness, ask the applicant to apply later after a specified period or reject the application.

6) Frequency of health checkups

If you are fit and healthy, you may go for a preventive health checkup once a year. You may consult a medical practitioner who may recommend the tests you must undergo based on age, profession, gender, family medical history, etc. You may book a medical checkup for yourself and family members. Some tests require 12 hours of fasting, so plan accordingly. Avoid alcohol, smoking, etc., before the checkup.

If you are suffering from some illness, the medical practitioner may advise a disease-specific test more than once a year, along with an annual comprehensive body checkup. Once you get the test reports, you may discuss them with your doctor, who will recommend the next course of action.

Health checkup with health insurance plan

Some health insurance plans provide you with a health checkup (once in 1 to 4 years). For example, the ManipalCigna LifeTime Health Insurance Plan provides a comprehensive health checkup once every policy year. To avail the health checkup, the insured  should be 18 years or above at the start of the policy year.

The plan also provides an optional Women+ package. It covers screenings for specified cancers and osteoporosis, gynaecological and psychiatric consultations, and cervical cancer vaccination.

Health is wealth

In the last few years, many people have become health conscious. As a result, they have adopted a healthy lifestyle. It includes healthy eating, exercise, work-life balance, sleep routine, stress management, etc. Along with maintaining a healthy lifestyle, having a comprehensive health insurance plan, is a must. They also go for an annual comprehensive health checkup. It helps them to take control of their health and stay on top of it. They follow the “health is wealth” philosophy and treasure their health the most. Regular health checkups are an integral part of that philosophy.