A Year of Wellness Series- January 2021 Health Assessment
This last year has prioritized health and well-being for many people, including myself. I want to be as healthy as I can be to ensure that my body can fight illnesses such as Covid-19, if I happen to get the virus. There are also many diseases that can start to develop at midlife that I am trying to reduce my risk for. So, I am looking at improving my overall health in the first of “A Year of Wellness Series”. Prepare yourself – this is a lengthy post!
Being healthy means having balance physically, mentally and spiritually in your life.
Health is determined by genetics, diet, exercise, and other lifestyle factors. Although we can’t change our genetic makeup, we do have a lot of influence on our health and well-being.
Living a healthy lifestyle can help prevent acute and chronic illness, improve self-esteem and overall feelings of happiness, and help us live longer (1).
A study published in BMJ in 2020 examined how a healthy lifestyle is related to life expectancy free of chronic diseases. It determined that healthy women can expect to live 10 more years disease free than those who didn’t have a healthy lifestyle (2). Of course we know that having chronic diseases decreases your life expectancy, so it is important to keep ourselves as healthy as possible.
It’s beneficial to adopt healthy habits early in life, but don’t despair if you haven’t made any changes yet! Making healthy choices now can definitely improve your health for the future, even if all you can do is muster up the will-power to make one single change at the start.
This year I plan to continue my quest for health and happiness. That’s basically my New Year’s Resolution. I want to be as healthy as I can be to enjoy every part of this fabulous life! Will you join me in this Year of Wellness?
Part of ensuring resolutions succeed, is doing an evaluation of your life, the changes you want to make, the obstacles you might encounter, and what you need to help you have success. I talk about this more in my blog post 4 Reasons Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail. So, part of being physically, mentally and spiritually healthy is evaluating each of these areas in your life.
Evaluating our current health is important so we know where we are starting from and helps us to decide what we should work on or what changes we should make. The following is how I have assessed my health:
- Scheduling annual checkups: medical, dental, vision, hearing (and associated screenings)
- Family health history
- Nutrition and fluid intake
- Social and spiritual balance (this has been challenged to the max this past year!)
- Lifestyle
Scheduling Annual Checkups: Medical
It is so important that we keep track of our health. No one else is going to do this for us when we are an adult, so it’s up to us. Seeing our doctor regularly is one way to ensure that we stay as healthy as we can be. In my nursing career, I have seen many people avoid going to the doctor for fear that they might be told “bad news”. Unfortunately, this often ends up with a worse outcome than if they had gone earlier to the doctor and been able to treat issues before they became worse.
Height, Weight and BMI
Yes, as we age we do very slowly lose some of our height- approximately 0.4 inches every decade after 40 (3). Losing more than this can indicate issues in the spine such as osteoporosis and you should seek guidance from your physician if you have concerns.
Weight gain or unintended weight loss is cause for concern. Excess weight increases your risk for chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease and diabetes (3), sleep apnea and some cancers.
Along with keeping track of your height and weight, it is beneficial to track your Body Mass Index (BMI) as well. BMI is a measurement of body fat in relation to height and weight. There are numerous BMI calculators on the internet such as this one (4) that can calculate this easily for you. BMI gives us a guideline that can help indicate increasing risk for health issues. A normal BMI is between 18.5 and 25.
Waist circumference is another measurement to be considered. People who have more abdominal body fat are at higher risk for diseases such as high blood pressure, Diabetes and heart disease. A waist circumference greater than 88cm (35inches) for women increases your risk for these diseases (5).
All of these measurements should be evaluated together because each person’s body is unique!
A blood pressure check is usually part of a routine physical exam at your doctor’s office. This test measures the force of the blood pushing against the walls of the blood vessels. Normal blood pressure should be around 120/80. High blood pressure is named “the silent killer” because most people have no signs or symptoms indicating it is high. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke and heart disease (6), so having this checked regularly can help prevent the debilitating effects of these diseases.
Before diagnosis, I was lucky to have symptoms of high blood pressure. I experienced blurred vision, a constant headache and brain fog when I was in my late 30’s. I had delivered my third child six months prior, so just chalked it up to being a busy mom and ignored the issues. One day I happened to check my blood pressure and that day was 180/108! I went straight to my doctor and have been on medication ever since. I have regular check ups with my doctor and have managed to keep it fairly normal since that time.
Two great resources explaining high blood pressure are found here and here.
Regular health checkups with your physician or health care professional are important. At these checkups you will have your height, weight, blood pressure checked and may be sent for specific lab work such as cholesterol and lipids, blood sugar, hemoglobin, hormone levels, and others.
Important Screenings
Also important to have referrals for important screening tests such as:
- Breast screening/mammogram and clinical breast exam starting at age 50 for a baseline for comparison, or earlier if you have certain risk factors. Speak to your physician about when you should start these screenings.
- Cervical Cancer screening- Pap test. Of course, this is something we midlifers know all about, as we have been through it for years and should be ongoing. Frequency should be recommended by your physician or health care agency.
- Colorectal Cancer screening. Fecal immunochemical tests (FIT) are easy to do and indicate if there is any blood in your stool. If it’s positive, you may be referred for further tests, like a colonoscopy. In Saskatchewan, this test is sent out to you at age 50 and after that according to your results. This is a very important screening test as it is the third leading cause of Cancer death in women and 90% of Colorectal Cancer can be prevented or successfully treated if caught early.
- Skin exams should be done both by yourself and by your healthcare practitioner. Non-Melanoma skin cancer is the most common type of Cancer in Canada (9) and it is also the most preventable. Examining all parts of your body regularly, with a mirror or with a friend helping, is important. Write down the size, location and appearance, or take a photo! And if you are concerned about something you see, please see your doctor!
Mental and Social Well Being Screenings
Regular health practitioner visits will also help monitor your mental and social well being. This will help determine whether you have medical conditions such as depression or anxiety or any lifestyle factors that might put you at risk for certain disorders. It is important that you answer the questions your physician asks you honestly- they are there to help you.
Tracking your Health
It’s important that you keep a record of your measurements, lab, screenings, and test results, and recommendations or referrals that your doctor may make. This is for your own health planning. In Saskatchewan, some of this information is accessible for us on MySaskHealthRecord found at https://www.ehealthsask.ca/MySaskHealthRecord/MySaskHealthRecord You can access your online health records by signing up and following the directions for activating your account. Be aware that it does take a few weeks to get your account up and running. You can view the information online, and print for your own records if you choose to.
When you’re at the doctor’s office there is often a lot of information that you can forget, so it’s important to write it down, if you can’t get a copy of it. It’s also important to go prepared to your appointment with any questions or concerns that you may have. But write these down too! Sometimes just the anxiety of being at the doctor’s office prevents us from remembering everything we wanted to ask, so having it written down helps us to remember. These days I have to write EVERYTHING down!
Keeping track of your health history makes life easier for you if you do need medical care for any reason. Medical professionals need to know your history to recommend proper treatment. Having this written makes it quick and easy to give the information to these professionals.
I have a printable that I have created that can help you when you go to your doctor appointments that will help you remember what questions you want to ask, and things you want to write down that you wish to remember. I also have a printable that helps you keep track of your health history. Both can be found in my free resource library that you can access below by signing up for my newsletter. The resource library has lots of printables that help you with self-care and wellness.
Family Health History
Part of doing our own personal health assessment is knowing our family’s health history. Our health is determined by lifestyle factors as well as our genetic makeup. Certain diseases and disorders can be passed on through our genes and knowing your family’s health history helps you to identify the disorders you might be more susceptible to acquire. If your father and mother developed high blood pressure early in life, then you might have a higher risk of developing high blood pressure too. Knowing this also helps you to plan for regular checkups or screenings and to learn what habits are important to help prevent the diseases if you can.
Of course, I have a printable in the free resource library that can help you track this information!
Scheduling Annual Checkups: Hearing
Your health assessment should also include a hearing assessment, especially if you are noticing some hearing loss or issues such as tinnitus (ringing in the ear). Risk for hearing issues increases at midlife, so get this checked out if you need to.
Scheduling Annual Checkups: Vision
We all know that even if we have never had vision issues before this midlife point, the likelihood that we will start to need reading glasses is high. That, or we need to grow longer arms.
Routine screenings for macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, and other eye disorders should also be done by the vision specialist. Regular vision check-ups will make sure these disorders are discovered and managed early to prevent vision loss.
Scheduling Annual Checkups: Dental
My dentist tells me that every six month checkups and cleaning is important for my dental health. Having healthy teeth and gums is so important for our overall health since bacteria and inflammation from bacteria can reduce our resistance to infection and may contribute to diseases such as heart disease. Also, certain diseases such as Diabetes, HIV/AIDS, Cancer and others do increase your risk for oral health issues (10). This is why you are asked about your complete medical history at the dentist’s office.
Nutrition Assessment
Part of a health assessment includes evaluating the food we eat, and how much we are drinking in fluids per day. Sometimes we think that we are eating healthy throughout the day, but we do get busy and grab quick snacks and don’t realize how many calories we are taking in, or whether we are eating/drinking a balanced diet.
I’ve learned that keeping track of everything I eat and drink during the day is a very eye-opening experience. This can be written down on paper, but I prefer using a phone app to keep track of what I consume. Apps can easily monitor your calories, but also give a breakdown of nutrients and macros (protein, fat, carbohydrates) to keep you on track. Knowing what you eat (and when) gives you the ability to make changes to your diet for the better, which can help improve your health. My favourite apps for tracking are Carb Manager and My Fitness Pal.
Also, if you need some assistance with figuring out your nutritional intake and what you should be eating and drinking, or if you want to lose (or gain) weight, you can talk to your physician for a referral to a Registered Dietitian. In Saskatchewan you can also contact a Dietitian directly and free of charge through the Eat Well SK program. You can call toll free at 1-833-966-5541 or email eatwell@usask.ca. They have a lot of valuable information to help you with your healthy eating goals.
Lifestyle Assessment
Doing an assessment of your lifestyle is important to see if there is anything that we can do to improve our health. This includes:
- What do you do now that helps you to be healthy?
- What can you do to improve your health?
- How much activity/exercise do you have each day/week? What activities and exercises do you enjoy doing? How is your flexibility, strength and cardiovascular endurance?
- What stressors do you have? Excess stress activates cortisol and adrenaline and other stress hormones in our body that disrupts homeostasis. This can lead to high blood pressure, mental and emotional concerns, heart disease, weight gain, and more.
- How well do you sleep? Sleep promotes healthy brain and immune function, helps with healing and improves physical and mental well-being. Lack of quality sleep places you at risk or heart and kidney disease, high blood pressure, Diabetes, obesity and more. Lack of sleep also increases your risk of injury to ourselves and others (11).
- What social concerns do you have? Of course, during the pandemic we all have had many! Do you feel socially and spiritually balanced, or is this something you wish to work on?
- What vices (ie: smoking, drinking, etc) do you have that might impact your health?
- What concerns do you have regarding your home life and family?
Of course, I have a printable that can help you access your lifestyle factors relating to your personal health.
So, to recap this long-winded post, to set goals and make a plan to improve your health, you really need a clear understanding of where you are starting from. A personal health assessment is important to help you make a plan to improve your health in this Year of Wellness. Once you have thoroughly assessed your health, you can then set your own personal goals and be on the path to wellness.
A Year of Wellness – My Goals
My own goals for this year of wellness include doing my own health assessment, which I am almost complete, as well as the following list of topics that I have identified as my goals. The topics on this list will be covering on my blog throughout 2021 (not necessarily in this order):
- Improving quality sleep
- Improving muscle tone, strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular endurance
- Healthy eating and meal planning
- Skin health
- Mental health and well-being
- Social wellness and family life balance
- Fluid intake
- Decluttering life
- Travel and adventure
- Self-care
- Giving back/helping others
- Learning new skills
I hope that you will join me in this Year of Wellness, even if you don’t have many changes to make. You can create your own goals and plans for wellness as it works for you. Please don’t compare yourself to anyone else. The only person you should compare yourself to is who you are today. Change isn’t easy or comfortable at times, but it is possible!
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter below. This gives you access to my free resource library for all of the printables for this health assessment, as well as many more. Signing up for my newsletter also gives you updates on my blog articles as well as the Year of Wellness Series.
Please note that while I am a registered nurse, I am not your nurse and my opinions above do not constitute or replace medical advice. Please discuss any questions or concerns with your physician or health care provider. Also, see my disclaimer here for more information.
Take care,
Resources:
- https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/chronic-diseases/healthy-living-prevent-disease.html
- https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.l6669
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/11-for-2011-eleven-important-ways-to-assess-your-health
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/topic/BMI-Calculator
- https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/healthy-weights/canadian-guidelines-body-weight-classification-adults/questions-answers-public.html
- https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/why-high-blood-pressure-is-a-silent-killer (https://www.heart.org/-/media/files/health-topics/answers-by-heart/pe-abh-what-is-high-blood-pressure-ucm_300310.pdf?la=en
- https://www.heartandstroke.ca/heart-disease/risk-and-prevention/condition-risk-factors/high-blood-pressure
- https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/chronic-diseases/cancer/non-melanoma-skin-cancer.html
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/dental/art-20047475
- https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sleep-deprivation-and-deficiency
Photo#1 by Vkhima from Pixabay
Photo#2 by Tiny_Tribes from Pixabay
Photo#3 by Engin_Akyurt from Pixabay