One of the biggest problems I have seen to healthy living lately amongst my friends is procrastination. I have been guilty of it too. You feel a pain or a discomfort, you assume is age and you ignore it. While many ailments are probably the result of age or lack of exercise, some times you should go to a doctor. Here are some recent examples that you might relate with:
1) a friend who is also a diabetic hit her toe with a table leg. It got red, it hurt and since she knew they could not do anything if the toe was broken, she left it alone. Later on it got infected and she treated it with over the counter medication. Fast forward a few weeks and the doctors had to amputate the toe.
2) a coworker felt dizzy and fell while installing her rooms curtains. After a day or two, her parents convinced her to go to the emergency room. It turned out that the 35 year old had suffered a mini stroke and was in the process of having another one when she got to the hospital.
3) an older gentleman I know used to make jokes about his hearing aid going bad. On an early Saturday morning, we all thought his aid was not working. He kept asking us to repeat ourselves and was getting grumpier by the minute. Two hours after he got to work, an ambulance had to be called. He had a heart attack.
These are extreme examples, and I know that most of the time, your pain or circumstance is just that. However, you should take the best care possible. You want to be here for a long time, specially if you have loved ones around. Schedule a yearly check up, eat right, exercise and learn from places like this. You are too valuable to take a chance like this. Minimize the risk of serious diseases by keeping informed, eating a healthy diet and keeping yourself active. More importantly, be assertive with yourself and your doctors. You are an expert on yourself. Don’t procrastinate out of fear or because you don’t have the time. Make the time and procrastinate tomorrow.
