|
If you're over 40 and male, read this right now...
30th August 2009
# Why expensive health checkups could be dangerous
# If you're over 40 and male, read this right now...
|
There are loads of things I don't like about getting older...
For instance, last month I went out for a night with Lara.
We taped the kids to the bed (all right, we got a babysitter),
dolled up - me in 5 minutes, Lara in 3 days with more
costume changes than Kylie, then went to a bar on the
harbourside.
One of those 10ft by 10ft bouncers was on the door, and
He stopped us as we went to go in.
'Can I see some ID please?' he asked Lara.
She was a bit confused...
'ID? I haven't got any ID. What for?'
'You need to be 21 to get into this bar,' he said.
It took a while for this to sink in.
'You think I'm younger than 21?' Lara beamed, practically
fainting with happiness.
'Don't you want to see my ID?' I asked as I joke.
The bouncer shrugged.
'Naw, it's all right. You look old enough. I thought you were
her dad.'
Her DAD!
Oh how we laughed about it for the rest of the night.
Her DAD!
Anyway, getting back to the...
Her DAD!
Right. I'm fine now. Really. I'm coping.
But looking older isn't the only thing that changes as the years
creep by. You also start to feel a bit older... the odd ache here,
the occasional pain there...
And things start to go wrong. I mean I've had two hernia ops
in the past two years, my eyesight is slipping a little, I've had
sciatica...
So when I first heard about people having a full health MOT,
I thought it was a great idea.
But that's before I dug a little deeper...
Why expensive health check-ups
could be dangerous
A while back (when I still had a proper job and more
hair), my company paid for one of those health MOT
things.
You know... where they hook you up to all sorts of
contraptions that go BING and WHIRRRR while men
in white coats stand around, shake their heads, and
make notes?
At the time I thought nothing of it.
In fact, it made a bit of sense.
I was in my late thirties, my body hand started to
disobey me ('In stomach, IN! Why won't you listen?),
and my health was suddenly something I thought I
should pay more attention to.
But now, I'm not so sure.
A team of senior doctors has discovered that these
check-ups can be misleading.
The report was from the Royal College of Pathologists
and three other respected medical and scientific
groups.
They said that while many tests have great diagnostic
value for people with symptoms.... they are 'clinically
irrelevant' for those who are well.
For example, CT scans (which X-ray your body from
various angles at the same time to spot any
abnormalities), involves exposing the body to
radiation.
And out of every 2,000 people who have one of these
scans, one will develop a fatal cancer.
Yes, it's still important to diagnose disease....
But how much of these checks are down to
a desire to make money?
Private medical screening is a multimillion-pound
industry. Companies advertise scans and tests that
they claim can detect diseases before too much
damage is done.
But it's not necessary for the fit and healthy to go
through this.
Instead, here are some natural ways to protect
yourself from most of ailments that these health MOTs
check for: |
- Heart disease - full body CT scans are used to
detect heart disease in early stages, but if you
look after your heart properly, you can reduce
your risk of heart disease considerably.
Add cayenne pepper and garlic to your diet.
Cayenne stimulates the heart and strengthens
arteries, whilst garlic reduces the likelihood of
clotting and lowers blood pressure.
You might also want to try Hawthorn, a tonic used
by the ancient Greeks. The flowers can help
protect weak or old hearts, and can help regulate
an erratic heartbeats.
- Liver disease - a liver function test is often
performed at these health checks (and you can
buy kits for £150 and do it at home), but the
results can be skewed. Besides, you can get this
test on the NHS if your doctor thinks you need
one.
In the meantime, milk thistle contains strong
antioxidants that can repair damage to liver cells
caused by cirrhosis, alcohol and prescription
drugs - but always check things out with your
doctor before taking any herbal remedy.
- Cholesterol test - this common blood test
checks for levels of LDL (bad cholesterol), which
is a main culprit behind hypertension and heart
disease. But yet again, this test can be easily
done by your GP, so go and have a chat before
you shell out any money on a private test.
And there's a lot you can do to lower your bad
cholesterol naturally. Eat plenty of onions,
sunflower seeds and oat bran - all of which help
lower cholesterol levels.
Oh, and if you're up for it, take a cold bath. Just
run enough water to cover your hips and plunge
in for ten minutes, twice a day.
And finally, one for solely for us chaps... |
If you're over 40 and male, read this right now...
- Prostate cancer - a prostate antigen test is often
used in a health MOT to try and detect early signs
of prostate cancer. The problem is, this test has a
huge occurrence of testing positive when there is
no cancer present. This leads to an unnecessary
biopsy, which can lead to all sorts of trouble such
as impotence and incontinence.
To protect yourself against the risk of prostate
cancer, start upping your intake of lycopene, an
antioxidant that's found in tomatoes, watermelon
and pink grapefruit.
That's it for this today. Enjoy yourself, indulge yourself
a little, and have a great bank holiday! |
|
|
|
