Tests For Your Sixties (and Beyond!)
by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger
24 Sep 2006 09:31 AM
Life isn't over at sixty. These regular tests will help keep you feeling your best through your sixties and beyond!
Stick with the basics from your twenties, thirties, and forties:
- Watch your blood pressure. Get it checked every year.
- Watch your weight. Muscle is replaced with fat AND your metabolism starts to slow down as you age.
- Watch your cholesterol. High cholesterol is a major cause for heart attack and stroke.
- Watch the blood sugar. A fasting blood sugar test is recommended every three years to help catch diabetes early.
- Yearly eye exams. Eye disease like glaucoma and macular degeneration are common with age. Other health issues (like diabetes) can complicate vision problems.
- Yearly dental exams. Your gum health can be an indicator of your overall health.
- Check your skin. Changes in existing moles or development of new moles can signify a problem. Skin cancer is treatable if it is detected early enough.
- Keep up with your immunizations. You need a tetanus booster every ten years.
Add these tests to your list:
- A rectal exam and other colon cancer screening tests. Your family history and other risk factors will determine how frequently you should have this done. Colon cancer is treatable, if it is detected early.
- Hearing tests. Nearly a third of people over the age of sixty experience hearing loss. Get your ears checked every three years.
- Thyroid hormone tests. Thyroid problems are easily missed, but a screening every five years or so can help you deal with them.
- WOMEN: Ask for a bone density test. Osteoporosis puts you at serious risk for disability or even death.
- WOMEN: Keep up with the breast exam and mammogram. Your chance of breast cancer increases with age.
- WOMEN: Keep up with the pelvic exam and Pap smear. Women over sixty can still get cervical or vaginal cancer.
People over fifty should think about getting a yearly flu shot; people over sixty-five should consider a pneumococcal vaccine as well.
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