Long-term illness should be a concern for everybody. No matter who you are, you are not exempt from medical problems. It’s a good idea to be thinking about what factors can affect you in your twilight years when your body is most vulnerable.
Family History
Genetics plays a very big role in medical problems. That can apply to anything and everything from your dental issues, to your skin, to your stomach problems, to your likelihood of cancer, Alzheimer’s, and more. It can even affect your mental health significantly in ways that you might not expect.
If you’re in a position to talk to your parents or grandparents about your family’s medical history, you absolutely should. Know what diseases and problems have happened so that you can be on the lookout for them early. If you catch them sooner rather than later, you have a better chance of dealing with them in a healthy way.
Your Job
The environment that you are most often in, is going to make all the difference in the world. For the majority of modern adults, that means your job or your home if you work remotely. There have been many cautionary tales of workers from times before safety protocols getting cancer from long-term exposure to acidic chemicals that weren’t known to be dangerous.
If you work in a risky industry, heed workplace signs that warn you of dangers. Even if you don’t work in an industry that is traditionally hazardous – you should be aware of the potential issues. Physical health problems can occur after years at a sedentary computer job. Mental health problems can come in an industry that is high stress.
Your Lifestyle
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times – exercise and diet make all of the difference. In modern-day society, it can be all too easy to let our free time be absorbed by technology. It can also be very easy to consume processed fast food on a constant basis for years on end. The result is a high rate of heart disease and obesity that still is one of the leading causes of death for American adults. If you want to avoid long-term illness, you should take a look at your current lifestyle and decide how you want to work to improve it.
There are other factors to be considered as well – childhood trauma being a surprising but important element that has been proven to affect your physical health severely later on in life. Always make sure to stay educated and to make regular visits to a doctor. Being aware is the first step.
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