Health is something most people only think about when they or others in their circle are unwell. However, if your efforts towards planning for your health are purely reactionary, you’re likely not setting yourself up for the best long-term results.
Whether to prevent future illnesses or to be prepared for unexpected issues, planning for your health is essential. Here are some ways to keep on track.
Organise your time
With our busy lives, it’s easy to forgo health maintenance. If you’ve been struggling to stay on top of appointment scheduling or exercise, better time management would be useful.
Use a digital calendar or other tools to provide reminders and organise yourself. Sometimes it’s just a matter of writing out what you need to do: appointments floating around in your head can be overwhelming, but if you input dates and deadlines into your calendar, these tasks may seem far more manageable.
Set reminders every two days on your calendar for a specific appointment. It’s also easier to get a support team in place by using technology to sync your schedules; this way, you can have a friend join you on walks, or accompany you to a medical appointment.
Prepare for the unexpected
Planning for your health isn’t just about preventing illness and injury – sometimes it means having a plan in place for when the unexpected occurs.
Some people are so focused on maintaining their health that they are lost when things don’t go according to plan. But no health plan is 100% guaranteed.
You can eat quality food in healthy portions, stay active, and still experience a major illness. Somebody who has never smoked in their life could still develop lung cancer.
Even if you’re very healthy, it’s best to have insurance, as creating a safety net is essential. At the bare minimum, you should have health or accident coverage, although life insurance is also relatively affordable.
There are supplemental insurance types to consider, too – for instance, if your family has a strong history of cancer, you can take out a policy just for that.
Furthermore, it’s worth considering a living will, with which you can specify who you’d want caring for you should you be incapacitated.
It’s not enough, however, to draft the document and tuck it away; you’ll need to talk to this person ahead of time and make the document accessible to them. There’s no point putting it into a safety deposit box no one else can get into.
Regularly take stock
When it comes to health, it’s important to adjust certain things as the years go by, owing to age and life changes.
For example, women in their 20s don’t necessarily need to make weight lifting a priority but, as they get into their 30s and 40s, loss of muscle mass can start to occur. Men also begin to lose muscle mass around this age, but statistically they have more to begin with.
So, take your individual situation into account. If you’re a woman in your late 30s who has never focused on muscle-building exercises, it might be time to adjust your workout routine to incorporate it.
You can also ask trusted people your age or older how they plan for their health. Oftentimes, the most useful information is what older people wish they had done at your age. Hindsight is very perceptive, so use it to your advantage.
Be proactive and prepared
It’s impossible to foresee every potential health danger in your future, but you can give it your best shot. By being proactive, you can take steps towards maintaining your overall health and wellbeing and be prepared for the unexpected.
Dennis Relojo-Howell is the managing director of Psychreg and host of ‘The DRH Show’. Connect with him on Twitter (or X?) at @dennisr_howell.