How Healthy Are You?

HOW OFTEN DO YOU GET SICK?

Do you go from one illness to another? You may feel as though you have the misfortune of always jumping from one ailment to another.  Maybe you go from a cold to the stomach flu to a bladder infection and then back to the cold… or maybe you have the bad luck of dealing with an annoying combination of illness on a perpetual basis.  There could be any number of reasons why this happens, but oftentimes being perpetually ill is your body's way of telling you something. 

Maybe you are working too hard, or maybe your stress level is too high, or it might just be that you are exposing yourself to too many germs without taking proper precautions.  It's not that you should wear gloves wherever you go or bathe in gel sanitizer, but if you work somewhere or frequent a place that is traditionally germy (such as a daycare or a hospital) then you need to make the practice of washing your hands a frequent habit.  Think about it; you get your hands filthy with germs and then move right on to eating a sandwich without first washing your hands.  Imagine all the germs that you are allowing to enter into your body via your mouth. 

If you are already tired or stressed out then your body is poised to get sick, and by bringing these germs in you're really setting yourself up.  Perhaps you aren't actually exposed to germs all that often, and you just have a really hectic life.  Remember that there is only so much your body can take, and if you are tired and weary and then a germ works its way into your system then it's not a huge surprise that your body will react by becoming ill.  If you just don't seem to be able to shake illnesses, and you can't pinpoint a reason why this happens, then you need to make an appointment to see your doctor to rule out something bigger.    

Do you hardly ever get sick? You may belong to the entirely different end of the spectrum: maybe you never seem to get sick.  You should consider yourself quite fortunate if you are the kind of person who never seems to fall ill.  There are not many women who can lay claim to rarely getting sick, especially since most women find themselves burning the candle at both ends most of the time; making them quite susceptible to illness. 

The important thing to remember if you are indeed one of the fortunate women is that your good fortune does not mean that you don't need to occasionally check in with your doctor and have the physical exams that are recommended to women of your current age.  Take a lesson from the other gender…many doctors say that the introduction of Viagra saved many men's lives because men who would not have ordinarily stepped foot into the doctor's office went in to have a physical exam to get a prescription for Viagra and it was discovered that many of these men had heart problems or other potentially fatal ailments.  These problems would not have been discovered if these men had not gone in to see the doctor for a routine exam. 

In a similar fashion, you should still make the time to go see the doctor once in a while just to have everything checked out and make sure it is all in working order.  The truth of the matter is that some diseases and other illnesses do not have overt symptoms that show up in the early stages.  You might have something going on inside you that has the potential to go terribly wrong, and you won't even know it if you don't have routine tests done.  If you don't know what routine tests you're supposed to be having then you should talk to your doctor and find out how often you need a physical exam.  As a woman, you should also have exams exclusive to women, and you can't avoid these no matter how unpleasant they may be.  These exams are recommended for a reason, and if you hope to be as healthy as possible you need to follow the recommendations. 

Your body is trying to tell you something.  It's time to stop thinking about your body as something separate from you.  Your body is just as much a part of you as your mind is.  Your body will also start to let you know if something is fundamentally wrong in most cases, and if you pay attention to your body then you will start to realize that you absolutely need to listen to what it is trying to tell you.  If it seems like you are feeling run down or if there is something that just doesn't seem quite right within your body, then it's time to head to the doctor and see if there is something going on that you should be concerned about. 

This does not mean that every little ache or pain should merit a rush to the emergency room.  Instead, you need to learn to listen to what your body is telling you, and to know when it is time to seek medical care.  You can't hope to learn how to listen to the signs your body is telling you if you don't learn how to pay attention to how you usually feel on a good day of health.  In other words, don't just listen to your body when it's ailing…instead, you should pay attention to what your body says all the time.  Although some diseases do not begin to develop symptoms until they have already progressed quite far, plenty of other diseases and other illnesses make their presence known loud and clear as long as you pay attention. 

CHRONIC CONDITIONS

Some chronic conditions are within your control, and some aren't.  A condition becomes chronic when it goes on and on and resists treatment.  While it is true that there are many conditions over which women have no control, it is also true that there are some conditions that can be completely avoided by living as healthy a lifestyle as possible.  If you find yourself diagnosed with a chronic condition then you should ask your doctor what can be done (if anything) to make the condition go away.  Once you and your doctor have figured out what can be done, attack it with a vengeance and get rid of the condition that is making you miserable.  

Don't ever give up on getting better.  The world is peppered with people who were once told that their medical conditions would never improve, yet with hard work and optimism they found that they did indeed recover fully.  You never know if you will be the exception to the rules that your doctors tell you about.  The idea is to never get defeated by your diagnosis.   When you start to get pessimistic then you may not try as hard to beat whatever ailment is riddling you.  You may think to yourself, everyone tells me I'm not going to get better, and I feel lousy, so why in the world should I put on some sort of happy disposition?

The suggestion is not to ignore your medical problems or to paste a fake smile on your face while whistling show tunes.  Instead, the point is that once you allow your mind to give up on ever getting better, then your body will inevitably follow suit.  When it comes down to it, you are the only one who can keep your spirits up.  You may be fortunate enough to have someone in your life (or a few people) who are really good at keeping you optimistic.  Their motivation can only go so far, however, because no matter how many positive people you have around you, your frame of mind will overrule anything they can say or do.  It's up to you to stay strong and to never give up on the idea that you can get better, because if you don't believe it then it really doesn't matter.

The amount of time you spend sick is not a direct indication of how healthy you are, in some cases, since some conditions are beyond your control.  If there are no underlying conditions, however, you should not be spending all your time in bed, hacking and coughing.

On the next page we will examine Your Health: Head, Skin, Eyes, Ears, Nose and Throat.