In 2017, a 9-year old boy in Washington saved his mother’s life because of a simple lesson he learned in his health class. What his mom took as symptoms of her past disease, the boy was certain it wasn’t. It turned out that she had pulmonary embolisms in both lungs.
Wellness awareness has been on the rise all over the world. People are taking it more seriously now.
The overall breast cancer rate has decreased significantly since 1985. In 2015, this rate dropped by 39 percent. American Cancer Society attributes advancements in tech, early detection, and increased awareness to be the main reason for this decline.
It is clear that people are increasingly concerned about maintaining their well-being, and this is where the whole idea of wellness screening generated.
What is wellness screening?
Wellness screening is the first step you take to raise your awareness about the essential health indicators like cholesterol, weight, blood pressure, and glucose. Keeping a tab on numbers helps you to make conscious decisions about your lifestyle.Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM), created by psychologist Carlo DiClemente, suggests that cognitive processes, like obtaining info and finding benefits of modified behavior, can lead to adopting an active lifestyle.
These screenings allow you to determine if you need professional medical services or you are good to go on your own.
The goal of wellness screenings
The primary purpose of health promotion schemes and prevention is to cut down the burden of suffering for preventable diseases. In 2017, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force listed 70 leading reasons for death and disability in the U.S. They have ranked them by prevalence, incidence, severity, and improvement potentials.
Most of these diseases are preventable only if they are detected in time. It is where wellness screening comes into play. The underlying motive of wellness screenings is to detect these diseases, and systematically avoid the growth and excessive prevalence.
Now that people are more aware, various facilities are offering wellness screening. You can pick the one nearest to you. For example, if you live in Iowa, you can search for ‘wellness checkups in Sioux Center, Iowa’ and you’ll find the centers closest to you who offer wellness screening.
Why are wellness screenings important?
There has been a constant debate around regular wellness screenings. Researchers have been working out different timeframes for each age group to have their wellness exam. However, detractors say that wellness screenings lead to false detection.
Al Lewis, who is the president of the Disease Management Purchasing Consortium (DPMC), says that false positives may lead to overtreatment. It brings in further complications.
The trick is to know your limits. Keep it moderate, but never underestimate the importance of wellness screenings. Scan through the points listed below to understand why.
- Reduces serious health risks
It happens very rarely that a disease pops out of nowhere. There is a gradual collection of germs inside your organs, and once it has grown optimally, you begin noticing physical signs. A wellness screening helps to detect the germy collection before it goes out of control.
For instance, colon cancer is the most preventable branch of cancer. Often, a few symptoms in the wellness exam can allow you to begin treatment plans before it starts getting severe. Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. Yet, people who routinely get their blood pressures checked can improve their chances of preventing a heart attack.
- Reduces health care costs
Preventive care curbs the occurrence of substantial expenditures on health. Hospital care in the U.S. is costly. It makes up one-third of all healthcare costs in America. That’s too much!
One out of every five adults goes to the hospital at least once a year. Most of these adults are infected with diseases that have causes hidden in their lifestyle.
A wellness screening will help you spot the reason and fix it. Spending some money on the screening will save you from a hefty health care bill in the future. Wellness screening doesn’t always give you worrying reports. Sometimes, they also enlighten you about the best practices to keep your body fit and healthy.
- Helps to maintain a healthy work-life balance
As our work life and personal life are getting more and more connected, fewer people are paying attention to their wellness. When you pass a wellness screening, you get the idea of the aspects negatively affecting your life. A wellness screening lets you know if you need to spend more time with your family. Or if your time-management at the workplace isn’t as steady as it should be.
When you know the areas that need improvement, you can then craft a plan to improve your health and sense of self.
- Improves overall productivity of an individual
Besides enhancing the physical health of a person, wellness screening is a dose of insight. It allows you to figure out what is destroying your productivity. When a person learns the factors pulling them down, they can craft a plan to weed those elements out.
Wellness screenings focus on helping people adopt a healthy lifestyle and behaviors. They will find that their productivity improves as they work on the weaknesses listed during the screening phase.
Encourage others
The age-old adage ‘health is wealth’ sums it up the best!
As we live in an aggressively competitive environment, our ultimate goal is only to reach our objectives. However, all the money you get or degrees you earn won’t be of much value if you are not healthy. (Even if you have beaten all of your rivals!)
A wise person knows how to prioritize health. Your health intricately connects with the happiness of your loved ones. So take care of it, more than every other thing!
Also, motivate others to go through a wellness screening. Let them look closely at the consequences it brings if ignored. (Ignorance is bliss, but not in this case!)
Are you up for it? What screening program will you opt for? Let us know in the comments section.
