January is not only the start of a New Year, but also a time for New Year’s resolutions. Many people resolve to take more care of their health, eat more consciously and exercise. Even a few small but achievable resolutions can start positive processes that can make you feel fitter and more energetic in the long term. However, it is good to know what health condition you are in when you start exercising and making lifestyle changes.
Spending time and energy on screening tests is probably one of the best investments you can make in your health. Keeping this in mind, it’s worth thinking about the most important laboratory tests not to miss at the start of the year. Once a year, it is highly recommended to have a so-called “Extended Health Screening Test”, which can be done comfortably, without queuing, at the laboratory service provider HR-Pharma in Szeged. It provides information not only on the basic functioning of the body and blood system, and on carbohydrate, protein, muscle and fat metabolism, but also on the functioning of the liver, pancreas and kidneys, and on possible inflammatory processes in the body. Some screening tests are useful for everyone, regardless of age and gender, such as eye, dental and oral screening. You should also visit your dermatologist once a year to check your moles and warts for melanoma. Lung screening is recommended regularly over the age of 40, while colonoscopy and/or fecal blood tests over the age of 50.
Before putting on your running shoes…
“I go for a run every morning. I’ll swim every two days. I’ll dust off my bike, my skis, my Nordic walking poles, get my punching bag out of the garage” – New Year’s resolutions like this and more. If you start exercising without having done any regular exercise, you may be doing more damage than you had hoped. It is worth starting with a health check to assess your body condition, fitness level, and which forms of exercise suit you best. It makes a difference how and how much you exercise and how much time you take to recover. It depends on your age, your weight, and whether you have a medical condition.
Eat more consciously
Once you’ve had your big Christmas and New Year’s dinners and lunches, and experienced the unpleasant consequences of too many calories – especially when combined with too little exercise – it might not be so hard to start a lighter diet that promotes raw vegetables, fruit, fish, protein, and foods low in fat, salt and sugar. When we change our eating or exercise habits, our bodies change too. These changes often show up in laboratory parameters sooner than visible changes in body weight or muscle mass. Therefore, it is useful to measure these important parameters as a starting point at the beginning of a lifestyle change and compare them later with indicators of positive change.
Laboratory tests and lifestyle packages provided by HR-Pharma in Szeged help you to get information about the current state of your body: