Have You Had Your 6-Month Checkup Lately?

I was driving home today and had the radio on. One of those public service announcements came on: 40% of women who have heart attacks - first time heart attacks - die from them.

The announcement then urged women to go to the doctor for a checkup.

One thing the announcement didn't say was why so many women die from these heart attacks - typically, in women, heart attacks manifest differently from heart attacks in men, and so by the time an emergency room visit figures out that what you're actually having is a heart attack, you've died.

Therefore, it's important to have regular medical checkups - no matter what your age. Typically people don't get heart attacks until they are in their 50s, but quite a few people do have heart attacks in their 40s and even 30s.

It's important to visit a doctor. You may resist this because - if you're morbidly obese, you don't want to hear what he or she has to say - that you have to lose weight. Well - that's what this blog is for. With this blog I enable you to lose weight in a gradual manner, and then maintain your new weight once you've achieved your goal.

But you also may not go because you think you're perfectly happy. You eat right, you jog or bike, etc. etc. Sorry - that doesn't mean anything. There's a little thing called hypertension, the "silent killer" - if you have high blood pressure, you will never know about it until you have a heart attack - or until you go to a doctor and get a checkup. [OR, admittedly, if visit those blood pressure machines in the pharmacy of your local Walmart - on a regular basis. And write down your numbers each time so you can keep track.]

There's an old cliche - If you don't have your health, you don't have anything. And that is very, very true. Safe guard your health. Schedule a checkup with your doctor today.