This is a very good health-related topic I saw over the net. When I read it I checked my own health using these guides and I've made careful thought of the part where I kind of failed. (waist area and my laziness to moisturize). This article may serve as a lifesaver either to you or your family so read on. For a lengthy and more explained health checks read the full article here.
Do These 11 Health Checks Today
Look at Your Hairbrush
(Check for thyroid disorders, deficiencies, and more.)
Deficiencies of zinc, iron, or biotin can all cause hair loss. Another culprit: a thyroid disorder. If you recently had a baby or experienced another significant hormonal change, such as going off the pill, hair loss for up to three months afterward may be part of the fallout.
Peer Into the Whites of Your Eyes
(Check for allergies, herpes, infection, and more.)
If the whites of your eyes suddenly have a yellow cast, it could be that you’ve spent too much time in the sun without wearing protective sunglasses. Overexposure to ultraviolet radiation causes a thickening of the clear membrane covering the whites of your eyes. More commonly, your eyes may look red. This is caused by blood vessels near the surface of the eye becoming enlarged and dilated. Red eyes could be a symptom of any several dozen issues. Many are relatively benign, such as not sleeping well the night before, or having an eyelash hair or small foreign object find its way into your eye. Red eyes could also be a sign of allergies, colds, flu, dry eyes, or a herpes outbreak. Or they could be a symptom of an infection such as pink eye, the familiar name for conjunctivitis, a highly contagious bacterial infection. In rare cases, it could indicate a more serious eye disease or injury.
Blow Your Nose
(Check for allergies, defects, and more.)
The normal, healthy way to breathe is through your nose, which means its normal, healthy state is clear of obstructions. Even minor congestion is indicative of a problem, be it allergies, a cold, sinusitis, or perhaps a basic structural defect. Many of us live with clogged noses, but we shouldn’t. Even if you’re still able to breathe comfortably, when your nose is 30 percent clogged, that means you’re taking in 30 percent less oxygen with each breath, and you have to breathe faster to keep up with your body’s oxygen needs. This is less healthy than taking long, deep, clear breaths.
Examine Your Fingernails
(Check for skin cancer, kidney disease, fungus, and more.)
The natural state of your nails should be strong, clean, and clear. Any significant variation from that is symptomatic of something deeper going on. What exactly? It’s hard to say; one health website we consulted listed more than 300 health problems for which nail problems are a symptom. Most prominent: deficiencies in vitamins, minerals, or protein; anemia; thyroid problems; hormonal imbalances; and psoriasis. But then again, weak nails could be the result of washing too many dishes.
Focus on Your Floss
(Check for heart disease, infection, and more.)
If you’re following your dentist’s orders, you floss every day to prevent tooth decay and gum disease. But if you’ve noticed that flossing is causing your gums to bleed, it’s not a sign that you should stop. It’s the opposite: Bleeding gums can be a sign that you have a bacterial infection that flossing will help get rid of. Research confirms that inflamed, infected gums are linked to heart disease, because chronic inflammation triggers the creation of immune-system chemicals in your bloodstream that contribute to the buildup of fatty deposits in your arteries.
Peek at Your Pee
(Check for infection, liver disease, and more.)
Normal urine is clear or a light shade of yellow. A few foods (as well as vitamin B supplements) can change it to a different color, but most of the time your urine shouldn’t vary much. What you’re really looking for is a sudden darkening. Dark yellow urine, or urine that looks blood-tinged, can signal dehydration or a urinary tract infection (UTI). It can also be a sign of liver disease. Bloody urine can also mean anything from kidney stones to bladder cancer. So if your urine is dark, don’t chug water or cranberry juice and ignore it; have your doctor check it right away.
Step on the Scale
(Check for diabetes, heart disease, and more.)
We know. It’s in the “eat an apple/get some exercise” category of obvious health advice. But excess weight is linked to so many health conditions—diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure, even depression, to name just a few—that it truly warrants ongoing monitoring. Plus daily checks have a good influence on you. A study from Brown University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed that 61 percent of people who weighed themselves daily maintained their weight within five pounds over time (compared with 32 percent who weighed in less often). Keeping daily tabs helped them catch weight gain early so that they could take steps to stop it.
Examine Your Stamina
(Check for chronic disease, heart problems, and more.)
For a long time, health experts considered better eating habits as the number one lifestyle change you could make for good health. But today fitness is getting almost equal billing. The benefits of exercising are so extensive they would surprise many doctors. But much more frightening is new research that shows how much the lack of activity hurts your body. Some experts say that sedentary living has overtaken smoking as the top cause of chronic disease in America today.
Measure Your Waist
(Check for heart disease, high blood pressure, and more.)
Yes, we already recommended you check your weight each day on the scale. But certain fat is more dangerous than others, and the most dangerous type is fat that surrounds the organs in your abdomen. People who carry extra weight around their belly —as opposed to on their butt, thighs, or elsewhere—are at increased risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and even some types of cancer.
Make Sure You're Moisturized
(Check for infections, nutritional deficiencies, and more.)
Dry skin can make you feel tight and itchy all over, especially after showering. It’s not a particularly nice look and doesn’t feel very good. But dry skin could also be reflective of nutritional deficiencies or a more serious skin condition. And cracked, dry skin left unattended can open you up (literally) to infections and other health issues.
Scan Your Skin
(Check for skin cancer, and more.)
Skin cancer is the second-most common cancer for women between the ages of 20 and 29, and for women under 40, skin cancer has tripled in the last 30 years. Once a year, the American Academy of Dermatology recommends making a head-to-toe skin check as part of your annual physical check-up. The median age for diagnosis of skin cancer is 59, but the sooner it is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat.
(Source: reader's digest)
Do These 11 Health Checks Today
Look at Your Hairbrush
(Check for thyroid disorders, deficiencies, and more.)
Deficiencies of zinc, iron, or biotin can all cause hair loss. Another culprit: a thyroid disorder. If you recently had a baby or experienced another significant hormonal change, such as going off the pill, hair loss for up to three months afterward may be part of the fallout.
Peer Into the Whites of Your Eyes
(Check for allergies, herpes, infection, and more.)
If the whites of your eyes suddenly have a yellow cast, it could be that you’ve spent too much time in the sun without wearing protective sunglasses. Overexposure to ultraviolet radiation causes a thickening of the clear membrane covering the whites of your eyes. More commonly, your eyes may look red. This is caused by blood vessels near the surface of the eye becoming enlarged and dilated. Red eyes could be a symptom of any several dozen issues. Many are relatively benign, such as not sleeping well the night before, or having an eyelash hair or small foreign object find its way into your eye. Red eyes could also be a sign of allergies, colds, flu, dry eyes, or a herpes outbreak. Or they could be a symptom of an infection such as pink eye, the familiar name for conjunctivitis, a highly contagious bacterial infection. In rare cases, it could indicate a more serious eye disease or injury.
Blow Your Nose
(Check for allergies, defects, and more.)
The normal, healthy way to breathe is through your nose, which means its normal, healthy state is clear of obstructions. Even minor congestion is indicative of a problem, be it allergies, a cold, sinusitis, or perhaps a basic structural defect. Many of us live with clogged noses, but we shouldn’t. Even if you’re still able to breathe comfortably, when your nose is 30 percent clogged, that means you’re taking in 30 percent less oxygen with each breath, and you have to breathe faster to keep up with your body’s oxygen needs. This is less healthy than taking long, deep, clear breaths.
Examine Your Fingernails
(Check for skin cancer, kidney disease, fungus, and more.)
The natural state of your nails should be strong, clean, and clear. Any significant variation from that is symptomatic of something deeper going on. What exactly? It’s hard to say; one health website we consulted listed more than 300 health problems for which nail problems are a symptom. Most prominent: deficiencies in vitamins, minerals, or protein; anemia; thyroid problems; hormonal imbalances; and psoriasis. But then again, weak nails could be the result of washing too many dishes.
Focus on Your Floss
(Check for heart disease, infection, and more.)
If you’re following your dentist’s orders, you floss every day to prevent tooth decay and gum disease. But if you’ve noticed that flossing is causing your gums to bleed, it’s not a sign that you should stop. It’s the opposite: Bleeding gums can be a sign that you have a bacterial infection that flossing will help get rid of. Research confirms that inflamed, infected gums are linked to heart disease, because chronic inflammation triggers the creation of immune-system chemicals in your bloodstream that contribute to the buildup of fatty deposits in your arteries.
Peek at Your Pee
(Check for infection, liver disease, and more.)
Normal urine is clear or a light shade of yellow. A few foods (as well as vitamin B supplements) can change it to a different color, but most of the time your urine shouldn’t vary much. What you’re really looking for is a sudden darkening. Dark yellow urine, or urine that looks blood-tinged, can signal dehydration or a urinary tract infection (UTI). It can also be a sign of liver disease. Bloody urine can also mean anything from kidney stones to bladder cancer. So if your urine is dark, don’t chug water or cranberry juice and ignore it; have your doctor check it right away.
Step on the Scale
(Check for diabetes, heart disease, and more.)
We know. It’s in the “eat an apple/get some exercise” category of obvious health advice. But excess weight is linked to so many health conditions—diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure, even depression, to name just a few—that it truly warrants ongoing monitoring. Plus daily checks have a good influence on you. A study from Brown University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed that 61 percent of people who weighed themselves daily maintained their weight within five pounds over time (compared with 32 percent who weighed in less often). Keeping daily tabs helped them catch weight gain early so that they could take steps to stop it.
Examine Your Stamina
(Check for chronic disease, heart problems, and more.)
For a long time, health experts considered better eating habits as the number one lifestyle change you could make for good health. But today fitness is getting almost equal billing. The benefits of exercising are so extensive they would surprise many doctors. But much more frightening is new research that shows how much the lack of activity hurts your body. Some experts say that sedentary living has overtaken smoking as the top cause of chronic disease in America today.
Measure Your Waist
(Check for heart disease, high blood pressure, and more.)
Yes, we already recommended you check your weight each day on the scale. But certain fat is more dangerous than others, and the most dangerous type is fat that surrounds the organs in your abdomen. People who carry extra weight around their belly —as opposed to on their butt, thighs, or elsewhere—are at increased risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and even some types of cancer.
Make Sure You're Moisturized
(Check for infections, nutritional deficiencies, and more.)
Dry skin can make you feel tight and itchy all over, especially after showering. It’s not a particularly nice look and doesn’t feel very good. But dry skin could also be reflective of nutritional deficiencies or a more serious skin condition. And cracked, dry skin left unattended can open you up (literally) to infections and other health issues.
Scan Your Skin
(Check for skin cancer, and more.)
Skin cancer is the second-most common cancer for women between the ages of 20 and 29, and for women under 40, skin cancer has tripled in the last 30 years. Once a year, the American Academy of Dermatology recommends making a head-to-toe skin check as part of your annual physical check-up. The median age for diagnosis of skin cancer is 59, but the sooner it is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat.
(Source: reader's digest)