When you find yourself approaching sixty, you’ll likely have had at least one medical situation occur that makes you realize just how much your body is aging. As we get older, scheduling certain health check-ups and screenings becomes essential to leading long, healthy, and well-informed lives. However, many people do not have a strong grasp on which screenings are the most essential to schedule once you’re aged 60 or older. To help you out, we’ve put together a list of eight important health check-ups everyone over sixty should schedule:
1. Blood Pressure
Getting your blood pressure under control, and keeping it there, is essential to staying heart-healthy and active once you’re older than sixty. By getting regular blood pressure tests, you can be proactive about keeping your blood pressure where it needs to be. If you self-test at home and find that your top number is ever above 130, or the bottom number is ever above 80, you should schedule a visit with your doctor to go over treatment options that will get those numbers to a safer level. Those that live in nursing homes are typically checked often for this to avoid negligent care by nursing homes.
2. Prostate Cancer Screening
For those over sixty, getting a prostate cancer screening is of utmost importance. Prostate cancer can be easy to treat if caught early, but late diagnoses can prove deadly. To protect the health of the rest of your body, keeping your prostate healthy and cancer-free must be accomplished. Many of those with a history of prostate cancer in their families are sometimes recommended to get a check-up even earlier. Simply discussing the issue with your doctor can help you decide what schedule will work best for your prostate cancer screening.
3. Hearing Test
Hearing loss can be difficult to recognize on its own. There’s a frequent phenomenon where those that are prescribed hearing aids are shocked to realize how much their hearing has been damaged over their lifetimes. Many people over sixty find themselves needing a hearing aid at one point in their life, so embracing the possibility, and getting a hearing test to protect yourself, is critical. Those in nursing homes should be extra considerate of getting this test done regularly.
4. Vaccine Updates
As your body ages, so does your immune system. While you may be exposed to more germs and potential hazards the longer you live, your immune system also becomes less effective at training itself. To keep you hyper-healthy, and prevent you from serious illness caused by diseases or infections that can be handled more effectively through vaccination, scheduling updated vaccinations at your healthcare provider is an absolute must. Depending on your age and other health history factors, your doctor will provide you with a different slate of vaccinations. In the age of Covid, vaccine updates become that much more essential for the health of elderly Americans.
5. Eye Test
Eye tests are highly recommended by the American Academy of Ophthalmology once you reach the age of forty. However, as you reach sixty, getting an additional eye test is also recommended (and the tests can even be done online these days). If you find yourself having a harder time focusing your vision, blurred vision, or other eye-related issues, it becomes that much more essential for you to seek help quickly as an elderly person. Doing so will prevent more intense visual degradation from occurring.
6. Breast Cancer Screening
Breast cancer is one of the more common forms of cancer that elderly people contract. As you approach sixty, you must schedule frequent screenings. Doing so allows you to look for any potential signs of cancerous development before it enters into a difficult-to-treat area. Especially if you have a history of breast cancer in your family, seeking frequent breast cancer screenings is essential.
7. Dental Exam
Dental exams are crucial for keeping your gums and teeth healthy. Dentists will need to be visited more regularly once you’re older than sixty, and you should aim for twice a year if possible. In case you begin requiring dentures, your relationship with your dentist becomes critical as well. As you build a relationship, your dentist will prove more concrete visitation plans for you to follow as you aim to keep your gums and teeth healthy.
8. Infectious Disease Screening
Many various diseases can infect our bodies as we grow older or infections that are asymptomatic to a point that knowing that you have them without a test can be next to impossible. To assure you catch these diseases, and treat them before they cause irreversible health damage, getting a full infectious disease screening is crucial for those over sixty. Some of the most common diseases screened for are chlamydia, HIV, syphilis, and others.
Here’s to a Healthy Senior Life
With these check-ups scheduled, you can be confident that your health is within your control. Leading a healthy life, eating a healthy diet, and keeping regular exercise in your schedule will help you avoid negative health effects, and these efforts are extra-important as you age past sixty. Thankfully, if you make sure to keep up to date with all eight of these medical check-ups and screenings, you’ll be incredibly prepared for whatever your life throws at you.