Staying on Top of Your Doctor Visits
When was the last time you saw your doctor? Do you stay on top of your health by scheduling appointments? It’s easy to get behind with seeing a doctor. If you’re like us, you might prioritize health care for other members of your family and not yourself. Today we’re chatting about prioritizing your health and tips to help you to stay on top of taking care of yourself. As we look to the new year, we hope this can be a nudge to make any appointments you’ve neglected!
Setting Yourself Up for Success
Good health begins in your daily life. We can’t always do all the things but we can prioritize a few things and try to incorporate each day.
Try for good quality sleep. Aim for 7-8 hours a night. Build a good evening routine to help you get ready for sleep. Try to stay consistent on the weekends by getting up and going to bed close to the same times you do during the week.
Eat a variety of foods. Focus on vegetables, fruits, quality protein, and fiber rich starches. We like to fill half our plate with vegetables before adding anything else.
Stay hydrated!
Get outside everyday. Fresh air and daily walks energize and give us an instant mood boost.
Move your body everyday. Start small with goals you can manage. A little bit each day is better than nothing at all. We’ve been enjoying catching up on TV shows while incline walking on the treadmill and lifting weights using guided weight training workouts.
Work to manage your daily stress.
Find a Primary Care Doctor
If you don’t already have a primary care doctor and are looking for one, begin by asking trusted friends and family members for their recommendations. You can also use online resources like ZocDoc to find a provider in your area. Once you find a doctor you’d like to see, you’ll need to confirm they accept your insurance and are an in network provider. You can see your new doctor annually for a check up and bloodwork. The bloodwork is a helpful early screening tool and a good check to make sure your levels are stable. Your doctor will also be able to provide preventative care, such as pap exams and ordering screenings for breast and colon cancer.
When you meet with your doctor it’s important you feel comfortable with them. If it doesn’t feel like a good fit, you can continue to look for a new doctor. When your appointment arrives, it’s a good idea to come prepared with an understanding of your family history, as well as your own personal history. They will want to note any past surgeries, extended hospital stays, and any irregularities in your health. You will want to bring any questions or issues along to your appointment. Your doctor will likely also want to talk about your mental health and your stress levels. Be ready to chat things through openly and honestly and raise any concerns you have. Our Doctor Visits layout is a must add to your planner. This layout provides space for everything you need during your visit and will keep everything organized in one spot.
Utilize Your Planner
Your planner gives you great space to jot down your appointments, collect your concerns and questions, and track any information you may want to keep handy for years ahead. We have some favorite health focused layouts available for our planners and notebooks, including the Wellness layout and the Measurement Tracker layout. We also love to use our planners to track our daily habits and goals we are progressing towards. The Habit Tracker and general Tracker layout are a natural fit with plenty of room to add additional daily habits you want to list.
We are wishing you good health and a renewed commitment to take care of yourself everyday. We hope your planners and notebooks will help you in the new year as you see your healthcare providers. And we’d love to hear which health focused layouts you utilize the most and which habit trackers are your favorite! Let us know in the comments below!