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Six Ways to Take
Control of Your Health
Between work, errands, dealing with kids and your home life—living a healthy lifestyle seems next-to-
impossible, leading many to place their health on the back burner. However, it doesn’t have to be this way.
Here are some simple ways to take control of your health.
By Anne Valeri, D.O., FAAFP 3 Don’t forget your mental health One of the first steps to taking control
of your health is having an annual
Associate Director, Family Medicine Residency Good mental health is an important part of physical exam. If it’s been awhile
Summa Health System – Akron Campus your overall well-being. Make sure you’re since you’ve seen your Primary Care
doing everything you can to cope with Physician, set aside some time to
1 Think about what you want the ups and downs of life. But if it’s not schedule an appointment.
working, talk to your doctor. Be honest
Spend some time thinking about your about stress, depression and any other If you need a PCP,
health goals, habits and family history. Are mental health concerns you may have. call 800.237.8662
there any diseases you’re worried about? Everyone needs a little help sometimes. to be connected with one.
Do you need help managing stress? Write
down any questions or concerns you have 4 Get routine checkups
and address them with your doctor. Your
Primary Care Physician (PCP) is there to Your health plan should include regularly
help you, but you need to tell him or her scheduled checkups and age-appropriate
what is wrong and what needs screenings for cardiovascular disease,
to be better. hypertension and cancer. Talk with your
doctor about which screenings you should
2 Don’t wait be getting and how often you need to
get them. Your doctor may recommend
You’re smart—you don’t need a medical screenings for breast cancer, cervical
professional to tell you whether you’re cancer, colorectal cancer, and other types
eating healthy or getting enough sleep. of cancer depending on your risk factors.
If you have areas you know you need to
improve, get started! Find ways to walk 5 See an eye doctor annually
extra steps each day, quit smoking, and
look for new, healthy recipes and Eye exams can actually detect more than
meal plans. just vision problems; they can detect
symptoms of diabetes, hypertension and
rheumatoid arthritis. Getting your eyes
checked on an annual basis will help
ensure you see your best.
6 Cut out the negative influences
We often have such good intentions
to become healthier, but then those
intentions get off-track by negative
influences in our lives. Make a list of all
the things in your life that you consider
to be negative health influences. Next,
prioritize the items from easiest to hardest
to eliminate. Work on the easy items first.
Examples of negative influences include:
having junk food in the house, staying up
too late and hitting the fast food drive-thru
too often.
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