Do I Need a Yearly Physical?

If you haven’t had a phys­i­cal in the past year, and don’t have one com­ing up, stop what you’re doing right now (well, after fin­ish­ing this arti­cle) and sched­ule one.

If you have a chron­ic med­ical con­di­tion, like dia­betes or heart dis­ease, you may already know that a year­ly vis­it is crit­i­cal. Your pri­ma­ry care provider or PCP can mon­i­tor the con­di­tion, con­firm that you’re get­ting the cor­rect treat­ment, and assess how it’s affect­ing your over­all health. They can also com­mu­ni­cate with any spe­cial­ists treat­ing you for your condition.

But if you don’t have a chron­ic med­ical con­di­tion, and you’re usu­al­ly in good health, you may be won­der­ing, ​“Do I real­ly need a year­ly physical?”

The answer is a resound­ing ​“yes.” Here are four of the many rea­sons why it’s impor­tant to get a phys­i­cal every year.

At a Glance: What Your PCP Can Do for You

• Catch silent issues ear­ly, like high blood pres­sure or prediabetes
• Get per­son­al­ized guid­ance on diet, exer­cise, and sleep
• Stay up to date on vac­cines and screenings
• Address ongo­ing symp­toms like fatigue, headaches, or stom­ach issues
• Build a long-term care rela­tion­ship for bet­ter health over time

Ready to take charge of your health? Sched­ule your annu­al phys­i­cal today.

1. PCPs Can Detect Med­ical Con­di­tions That Aren’t Caus­ing Symptoms.

There are many med­ical con­di­tions that hide in plain sight. Even though they are seri­ous and could cause sig­nif­i­cant prob­lems, they don’t have any symp­toms, espe­cial­ly ear­ly on. For many of these con­di­tions, find­ing them ear­ly is crit­i­cal. It allows your provider to treat them before they get worse and to pre­vent seri­ous – or even fatal – complications.

One of the main ones is high blood pres­sure (hyper­ten­sion). High blood pres­sure occurs when the force of blood that push­es against your artery walls is too high, caus­ing your heart to work hard­er to pump blood. If left untreat­ed, it can increase your risk of heart attack or stroke. 

Since it gen­er­al­ly doesn’t cause symp­toms, the only way to know for sure is to have your blood pres­sure mea­sured. Your PCP can pre­scribe med­ica­tion or help make lifestyle changes, like reduc­ing your salt intake, to low­er your blood pres­sure before it becomes life-threatening.

Anoth­er con­di­tion that usu­al­ly isn’t symp­to­matic but is crit­i­cal to treat ear­ly, is pre­di­a­betes. This is when your blood sug­ar is ele­vat­ed but not high enough to be con­sid­ered type 2 dia­betes. Pre­di­a­betes is a pre­cur­sor to devel­op­ing type 2 dia­betes, but there is good news. It is often reversible. 

The catch is that it has to be diag­nosed and man­aged before it turns into dia­betes. As with high blood pres­sure, your PCP can help you find and treat pre­di­a­betes ear­ly on to reduce your risk of it becom­ing worse.

Read on Duly Health and Care: Your Guide to Your Annu­al Well­ness Visit

2. They Can Help Detect Con­di­tions That Have Minor Symptoms.

You might be hav­ing fre­quent symp­toms like headaches or upset stom­ach that seem more like annoy­ances and can be solved by tak­ing a pain reliev­er or antacid. How­ev­er, these could be signs of big­ger med­ical prob­lems. For example:

• Con­stant headaches could be due to an infec­tion or chron­ic sinusitis. 
• Fre­quent stom­achaches could be caused by a diges­tive dis­or­der (like irri­ta­ble bow­el syn­drome) or a food intolerance.
• Short­ness of breath after phys­i­cal activ­i­ty could be a sign of asthma.
• Dif­fi­cul­ty sleep­ing could be a symp­tom of sleep apnea or stress.

In some cas­es, what seems like a minor symp­tom could indi­cate a seri­ous prob­lem. For instance, while headaches gen­er­al­ly aren’t seri­ous, they could be caused by a tumor.

Let your provider know if you have ​“small” health issues. Even if the symp­toms aren’t due to a med­ical con­di­tion, they can help you find ways to pre­vent or man­age them so that you’re more comfortable.

Read about pri­or­i­tiz­ing annu­al check-ups.

3. Your PCP Can Also Help You Improve Your Over­all Health and Wellness.

If you’re not always quite at the top of your game when it comes to gen­er­al well­ness, like eat­ing a healthy diet or get­ting enough phys­i­cal activ­i­ty, your annu­al phys­i­cal is a great time to reset. If you have great health habits already, talk­ing to your PCP at a phys­i­cal is a good way to learn about how your needs may be chang­ing as you get older.

Read on Duly Health and Care: Are You Behind on Your Reg­u­lar Health Screenings?

4. It’s a Good Way to Build a Rela­tion­ship With Your PCP.

See­ing your PCP reg­u­lar­ly can strength­en your rela­tion­ship with them, which is key for your long-term health.

The more you see your PCP, the more they will get to know you. They will have a bet­ter idea of your per­son­al and fam­i­ly med­ical his­to­ry, which can make it eas­i­er to rec­og­nize and diag­nose cer­tain con­di­tions. They will know your obsta­cles to stay­ing healthy, like if you live in an area with a lot of pol­lu­tion, share a liv­ing space with a smok­er, or have a high-stress job.

Hav­ing a good rela­tion­ship with your PCP can also help you build trust, which is impor­tant when prob­lems do arise. If you’re diag­nosed with an ill­ness or chron­ic con­di­tion and need treat­ment, a strong rela­tion­ship can help you trust that your provider is giv­ing the care that’s best for your per­son­al needs.

How to Make the Most of Your Annu­al Physical

Before going to your annu­al appoint­ment, take stock of your health. Has any­thing been both­er­ing you late­ly, even just a lit­tle bit? Have you noticed any changes in your day-to-day life, like fre­quent uri­na­tion or skin irri­ta­tion? While you do this, think about your med­ical his­to­ry. Did any­thing change in the last year? Was an imme­di­ate fam­i­ly mem­ber diag­nosed with a med­ical con­di­tion that could be genetic?

Also, pre­pare a list of ques­tions ahead of time so that you don’t for­get to ask any­thing. At your appoint­ment, don’t be afraid to ask these ques­tions – even if they seem minor or awk­ward. Your PCP is there to help you stay healthy, not to judge you. If you’re not com­fort­able talk­ing to your PCP about cer­tain issues, think about switch­ing providers so that noth­ing stands in the way of get­ting the care you need.

Pri­or­i­tize your health this year. Sched­ule your phys­i­cal with a South Bend Clin­ic provider today and get the per­son­al­ized care you deserve.