Why Are Annual Health Checkups Important?

Published on: 21th October 2021
Medically reviewed by: Medical Director at First Response Healthcare

People today live fast paced, high pressure lives where most of us are consumed by our work,where there is hardly enough time for oneself, to eat right, to sleep well, to exercise or to consistently maintain a healthy lifestyle. On top of this, what is compromised is our commitment to our health and bodies, when we knowingly or unknowingly overlook its requirements or needs.

Most of us generally book a doctor’s appointment when we are sick or if we are experiencing some concerns related to our body. However, with changing times, the need for regular testing and checkups has also evolved. With stress levels higher than before and with the awareness about the importance of health constantly growing, people now opt for Annual Health Checkups that can help one identify ailments even before they start. Annual Health Checkups aid with identifying problems early that allows for treatment to start earlier and without complications. In diseases such as Cancer, early detection can be crucial and life changing for a patient’s life.

Benefits of Annual Health Checkups

1. Prevention is Better Than Cure

Health Checkups make it possible to identify ailments whose symptoms you might have missed or ignored in your everyday life. Conditions like diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer, HIV/AIDS, anemia and coronary artery diseases are identified through blood tests and it is only through these tests, that are a part of annual health checkups, can doctors tell whether or not your organs are functioning optimally. A health checkup helps you take charge to make sure that you are taking steps at the prevention stage itself and not just at the treatment stage.

2. Lower Healthcare Costs

While an annual health checkups might seem like an additional, unnecessary expense, it is actually an expenditure that will help you save money in the long run. A health checkup can help reduce the risk of undergoing way more expensive surgeries and can help in preventing chronic illnesses. Undergoing an annual health screening can help prevent sudden, unexpected expenses and long bills in the hospital.

3. Being Proactive Instead of Reactive

Going to a doctor once you experience symptoms involves you responding and reacting to your situation. However, taking an annual healthcare screening to identify some problems within your body makes you proactive. It is common knowledge that it is harder to cure a disease or condition once it has advanced. A health checkup allows a doctor to diagnose you sooner than expected, thus allowing you the opportunity to start treatment much in advance before the ailment progresses into critical stages.

4. Time is Money

Along with the harm that ailments bring to our bodies and minds, they also disrupt our daily routines and day to day lives, adding more stress and burden to an already stressful situation. Getting sick requires one to take time off from work, school and other commitments. An annual checkup helps you ensure that you are healthy and decreases the chances of you having to take time off due to sickness or ailments.

5. Helps Identify Stress Related Diseases

In today’s times, our busy lives and work schedules cause immense amount of stress. Patterns of stress are common not only among adults but are also identifiable among children. This stress could cause a range of diseases including high blood pressure, hypertension, obesity, asthma, depression, Alzheimer’s, mental disorders and gastrointestinal issues. An annual health checkup helps ensure that none of these diseases cross the primary stage and continue to remain in check.

6. Helps You Be Aware of Your Health & Fitness

Many people take their health for granted and generally make poor life choices when it comes to eating habits, exercising, nutrition, etc. A health checkup and its results serve as a reminder and goal for one to remain focused on eating healthy, exercising regularly and staying fit. If you’re someone who follows a healthy lifestyle, a health checkup serves as a progress report on areas that you’re performing well in and aspects that need your care and attention.

All in all, an Annual Health Checkup:

Reduces the risk of sickness and long term ailments.
Leads to early diagnosis and treatment of illnesses.
Early diagnosis allows the doctor and patient to choose from a wide range of treatment options available, making it possible to choose the most suitable for the patient.
Reduces the risk of complications.
Lower healthcare cost in the long term.
Helps you remain abreast with your health, body and everything that it needs.
Reduces mental stress and improves quality of life since you take charge of your health proactively.

What Should One Expect In An Annual Health Checkup?

A Full Body Annual Health Checkup usually include the following:

Height & Weight Measurement: Measuring these can help provide a baseline to monitor your health. A sudden loss or gain in weight can help the doctor identify certain health issues that you might have.

Checking Vitals: Heart Rate and blood pressure are checked as a part of this, and this is especially important if your family has a history of heart disease.

Personal History & Health Concerns: This is when the doctor will ask you about any health concerns that you might have. The doctor may also ask about some lifestyle habits like smoking ,excessive alcohol use, sexual health, diet, and exercise.

Your Medication List Review: The doctor would want to know about the medicines and supplements you are taking, since this information can help avoid dangerous drug interactions.

Understanding Family Health History: This is important in recognizing some ailments or diseases that might be hereditary or that can be triggered because of certain lifestyle habits in the family.

Physical Exam: Here the doctor will evaluate each organ in the system through a physical exam to find out if there are any issues that you might be facing.

Tests and Screenings: This would include blood tests, which are generally customized for your age group and sex. Once the doctor has these reports, he will be able to advise and guide you better in terms of where you’re at healthwise.

General Appearance: It is possible for doctors to gather a large amount of information about your health just by observing you. Looking at your skin, posture, walk, mental alertness and several other things, your doctor can narrow down on things that might be wrong.

Heart Examination: The doctor will use a stethoscope and listen to your heart to detect an irregular heartbeat, a heart murmur, or any other clues related to heart disease.

Lung Examination: To find out if there are any signs of lung or heart disease, the doctor will use the stethoscope to listen to crackles, wheezes and breath sounds.

Head and Neck Examination: Here the doctor will check your throat and tonsils, along with your teeth and gums since they also provide information about your overall health. Ears, nose, sinuses, eyes, lymph nodes, thyroid, and carotid arteries will also be examined.

Abdominal Examination: Through this exam, the doctor will check if your liver size is fine and if there is presence of abdominal fluid. He will also take a note of bowel sounds to check for palpating and tenderness.

Neurological Examination: Here the doctor will check your nerves, muscle strength, reflexes, balance, along with your mental state to make sure your nervous system is functioning optimally.

Dermatological Examination: This is to check your skin and nails since these could signify a dermatological problem or disease somewhere else in the body.

Extremities Examination: As a part of this, the doctor will look for physical and sensory changes, and will check pulses in your arms and legs. Your joints will also be examined.

Male Physical Exam: The physical exam for males will include a testicular exam, wherein a doctor will check each testicle for lumps, tenderness, or changes in size.

The Hernia exam is meant to check for weakness in the abdominal wall between the intestines and scrotum. And lastly, the penis exam will help the doctor identify signs of sexually transmitted infections such as warts or ulcers on the penis. A prostate exam is also conducted as part of the male physical exam.

Female Physical Exam: A woman’s annual exam will include a breast exam, wherein the doctor will check for any abnormal lumps that may detect breast cancer or benign breast conditions. The doctor will also check the lymph nodes in the underarm area and check for visual abnormalities of the breasts and nipples. The Pelvic exam will involve examination of the vulva, vagina, cervix, uterus and ovaries. The female physical exam will also include checks for sexually transmitted infections, a Pap test, HPV test to screen for cervical cancer.

The above list intends to serve as an overview and is not a definite list. Depending on your health, the doctor may order additional tests or ask additional questions.

How to Choose an Annual Health Checkup Package?

There are multiple health checkup packages available for you to choose from and sometimes it might get overwhelming and confusing. While choosing a package, you should compare the packages keeping in mind factors such as price, number of tests, type of tests, type of service and credibility of the healthcare provider.

For women, for the annual health checkup, it is advisable to choose a package that covers cervical cancer screening, breast cancer screening, test for STDs/STIs, diabetes, thyroid and cardiac arrest. Men should consider getting a package that includes tests for cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, colon cancer, prostate cancer, among others. For children, health checkups that cover detailed testing of the child’s health along with dental checks, vaccinations, and eye checks should be planned.

There are also some age-related considerations to keep in mind when choosing your health checkup package. If you’re 50 or have a family history of colorectal cancer, you should make sure to include screening for colorectal cancer in your checkup. Women after the age of should begin the annual mammogram screening for breast cancer. Women above the age of 45 and below the age of 54 should get mammograms every year while women above the age of 55 should get them every once in year or once in two years.

Health Checkup At Your Home in Dubai by First Response Healthcare

Through the First Response Health Checkup, we aim to provide you personalized health assistance that can help you determine your current status of health, to predict and understand the future risks and to prepare a unique, customized lifestyle plan for you that can help you lead a healthy and fit life. First Response Healthcare offers all residents of Dubai a full body health checkup at a time and place convenient to you.

Sample Requirement: Blood/Serum

Turn Around Time: 1-2 days

Our Full Body Health Checkup Wellness Exam is an advanced profiling, combining Health Risk Screening for lifestyle related diseases like heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, along with a health assessment of all major body organ systems. We provide the full body checkup across Dubai with the help of a trained and licensed team of professionals accredited by the Joint Commission International. Our services offered under the package are affordable, quick,professional and are always available at a time and location of your choice and preference.

Some other features of our Full Body Checkup Home Services in Dubai include:

Blood & Urine Lab Test at Home.
Sample Collection Service from your Home available round the clock, all 365 days of the
year.
Full Body Health Checkup by experienced doctors and nurses.
Individualized and Personalized Care by our team.
Team Certified by Dubai Health Authority (DHA).
Our team reaches the entire Emirate of Dubai, anytime, anywhere.

Option To Choose From Various Packages

First Response Healthcare offers a various packages for a full body check up and you can choose one based on your need and requirement.

Our Premium Health Checkup At Home Includes:

Body Mass Index results from your height and weight
Metabolic Syndrome Screening
Framingham Heart Disease Risk Score
Personalized Physician Consultation at Home
Lifestyle Modification Advice & Inputs from Experts
Your copy of the infographic report sent via email within 48 hours

The Full Body Checkup For Men Includes:

Liver Function Tests (LET)
Kidney Function Tests (KFT)
Thyroid Function tests (TFT)
Lipid Profile
Urine Examination (R/M)
Fasting Blood Sugar
Complete Blood Counts (CBC)

If you choose to go with the Premium Plan for Men, on top of the above mentioned tests, you also get results for the following tests:

ECG (Electrocardiogram)
Prostrate Specific Antigen (PSA)
Iron Studies
Vitamin D
Glycosylated Haemoglobin (HbAIC)

The Full Body Checkup For Women Includes:

Liver Function Tests (LFT)
Serum Creatinine
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone
Lipid Profile
LH, FSH & Prolactin Hormones
Fasting Blood Sugar
Complete Blood Counts (CBC)

If you choose to go with the Premium Plan for Women, on top of the above-mentioned tests,you also get results for the following tests:

ECG (Electrocardiogram)
Pap Smear (LBC)
Iron Studies
Vitamin D
Glycosylated Haemoglobin (HbAIC)
Urine Routine Examination

We also give you an option to choose a package based on how frequently and to what extent you want a doctor’s inputs when it comes to your tests and results. For the same, you can choose packages from the following:

Home Health Checkup: This is a one-time wellness checkup, wherein a doctor will visit you at your home to check your health status.

Annual Wellness Plans: Through this plan, you can get your health status managed and evaluated throughout the year through the service of a dedicated doctor.

Concierge Plan: Using our Concierge Plan services, you can get a dedicated doctor to coordinate your healthcare needs throughout the year along with managing your wellness checks and offering advice for modification of your lifestyle plans.

Call or WhatsApp us at +971 505050387 to book your full body checkup today or book a slot online. Make your health a priority and start your journey for better health and preventive healthcare today!