Regular health checkups can assist you in spotting the indicators of disease and early detection can lead to more successful treatment for conditions including diabetes, heart disease, and other serious illnesses. Your doctor will discuss your medical history, and family history of disease when you have a checkup and talk about your diet, level of activity, and other factors that can affect your health.

After this, your doctor will go through a thorough physical examination to understand if there are any possibilities of abnormalities forming in your body. Your doctor could also advise regular health checkups at an early age if you are at a greater risk of developing a certain health issue because it runs in your family. Let’s see the most important health checkups that you should go through every year to keep yourself safe.  

10 Health Checkups that Must be Done Every Year 

1. Blood Pressure

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and the American Heart Association (AHA) advises routine blood pressure checks, which involve a quick test that measures the force of blood flowing through your veins. During a full body checkup, you should get your blood pressure checked at least every two years until the age of forty in individuals without high-risk factors. Then once every three months in individuals with obesity, smoking, diabetes, mellitus, family history of HTN or CAD, CKD, or stroke.

2. Cholesterol

Heart attacks and strokes are frequently caused by elevated cholesterol levels, and sometimes, no symptoms are present in the patient, so the only way to keep an eye on your cholesterol level is to be tested frequently. Your total cholesterol, which includes LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol, should ideally be in the range of 154-193 mg/dl, above 251 mg/dl is regarded as extremely high, and more than 301 mg/dl is hazardous. You might be able to treat high cholesterol by making dietary changes and taking medication prescribed by your doctor, so there’s no need to worry unless there are any risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as obesity, smoking, family history, premature CAD, Sedentary lifestyle. psychiatric disorder or fatty liver disease in which case you may want to discuss the options to start cholesterol  lowering medication or statins.  

3. Blood Sugar Test 

Those without diabetes risk factors should begin screening for type 2 diabetes and prediabetes at age 35, rather than 45, as was previously suggested by many doctors. For those who are overweight family history DM, Sedentary lifestyle, previously identified prediabetecs, HTN(BP>=190/90), history of gestational DM, PCOS or TGL 7250  mg/dl and thus have a higher chance of developing diabetes, experts advise them to take a full body checkup test that includes a diabetes test starting from the age of 25 and at least once every year.  

There are three reliable blood tests that are known for diabetes screenings - A1C, fasting blood sugar test, and Glucose tolerance test. A1C determines your average blood sugar level over the previous three months, and a glucose tolerance test gauges your blood sugar levels after consuming 75 gms of glucose. The fasting blood sugar test is performed after an overnight fast, so be mindful about that before you go for a checkup.

4. Colon Cancer Screening

Those with an average risk of colon cancer get their first screening at age 45, and according to research, colon cancer incidence is increasing at alarming rates in younger people, which is why the screening age has been dropped. Screenings should be done on a regular basis until the patient is 75 or 85. If you already have inflammatory bowel disease, you have to discuss screening with your Physician before something bad happens because this is a type of preventive healthcare that is really helpful in the long run. 

The most common method for colon cancer prevention is stool examination. Diagnostics based on stool, such as the extremely sensitive guaiac-based fecal occult blood test or highly sensitive fecal immunochemical test, which are performed once a year. Every three years, multi target stool DNA  test could be used and every five years, a visual examination of the colon and rectum is performed using CT colonography or flexible sigmoidoscopy (FSIG), which looks at the lower colon. 

5. Cervical Cancer Screening 

There are two types of tests available for cervical cancer screening. A Pap test looks for cervical abnormalities that could develop into cancer and your doctor will take some samples from you and then check it for this cancer. The other one is HPV screening, and in these tests, the doctor searches for a virus capable of causing alterations in cells that can result in cervical cancer. The test should start at the beginning of age 21 and it should be done every year. 

6. Prostate Cancer Screening 

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in your blood can be measured to identify prostate cancer, but for men who are not at high risk, testing should begin around age 40. This preventive healthcare practice may begin earlier for individuals who have a family history of prostate cancer or who have lost a close relative to the illness.  

7. Dental Check 

Even though we brush every day, most of us rarely floss, and that’s why a dental check every year is a good idea. See a dentist regularly so they can look for cavities, gum disease, and other problems in your mouth and you may need to go once or twice a year. But how many times you visit the doctor depends on your oral health and what you have to do to keep your teeth healthy and strong. 

8. Eye Test

As people age, they become more susceptible to eye conditions such as glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration, and irreversible vision loss can result from both macular degeneration and glaucoma. Because glaucoma does not exhibit symptoms, it is imperative that you get tested annually by an eye doctor to preserve your vision otherwise you may very quickly and suddenly lose your eyesight.

9. Sexually Transmitted Diseases Check

STD tests, including gonorrhea and chlamydia screenings, should be performed at least once a year if you are sexually active. Doctors also recommend screening for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Hepatitis B in all sexually active people who didn’t use protection during sexual activity. The frequency of these screenings should be determined by an individual's risk factors and lifestyle.  

10. Bone Density Check  

This is a preventive health checkup, and starting at age 65, people should get a bone density test to check for osteoporosis, a condition that weakens bones. Individuals who have a family history of fracture, and a low body weight, have a history of smoking & use of steroids etc have extra risk factors for osteoporosis and should discuss being checked sooner with their physician. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, or DEXA scan, is the term used to describe a bone density screen, and a low-dose X-ray machine takes pictures of your bones, while you lie on a table.  

Final Remarks

If you wish to make sure that you are truly healthy, regular health checkup is the way to go, because with preventive health checkups, your doctor will tell you when to take action. Regular check-ups and testing can help identify issues before they arise and at an earlier stage, when treatment options and prospects of recovery are more favorable for you.