When it comes to any aspect of life, we should always prioritize our health, happiness, and wellbeing. But with the stresses and responsibilities that come hand in hand with full-time work, social schedules, and child care, many of us push our bodies to the back of our priorities. This can only wind up with detrimental effects, as it’s extremely important that we keep our health in check before problems worsen. So, rather than bottling up our health problems, it’s time to face them. Here are a few different areas to tackle as soon as possible!

Pain

An astounding percentage of people take a “grin and bear it” attitude when it comes to experiencing pain of any sort. But this really is something that we need to change. After all, pain is essentially your body’s way of raising a red flag to your mind. It’s a way of alerting us to something that is going wrong within our bodies and needs to be given attention and treatment. The worse the pain, the worse the problem probably is and the more immediate attention it deserves. Now, there are various types of pain that we can experience and various different ways to treat each kind. For mild to moderate pain, chances are that you can take an over-the-counter painkiller until your body manages to rectify the situation itself. Paracetamol, for example, is often taken for mild headaches, fevers, toothache, and sprains. Ibuprofen can be taken for menstrual cramps and migraines. However, if you have higher levels of pain, you may want to contact your doctor (or emergency services if you’re experiencing a significant loss of blood, incapacitating headaches, chest pains, or difficulty breathing). There are various other treatments for pain that might suit you better than over the counter options. If you’re interest in further reading on this subject, click for more.

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Changes in Vision

It is advised that you book in for an eye test at least once every two years, so keep up to date with these check-ups. If you do notice problems with your eyesight in between check-ups, remember that you can always book additional appointments and give yourself the best chance of tackling problems before they worsen. It doesn’t matter if you notice changes just a matter of days after your last appointment, don’t hesitate to book in! When you attend an eye examination, a professional will generally carry out a full examination of your eye’s outer and inner health, shining a light inside and taking a look around to identify disease or warning signs of disease. These could include macular degeneration, retinal detachment, glaucoma, or even seemingly unrelated conditions such as diabetes. They will also carry out a visual acuity test (you will recognize the traditional board with different sized letters on). This will help them to work out if you are becoming short sighted or long sighted. If problems do arise, they’ll be able to prescribe you the right lenses for glasses or contacts, which will help to make your day to day life easier, as you will be able to see everything much more clearly rather than straining your eyes or simply struggling. The tests are free for many, or if not tend to be cheap, and shouldn’t be painful, so there’s no excuse to miss them!

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Changes in Hearing

While we may be pretty useless at attending eye appointments, we tend to be even less reliable when it comes to having our hearing checked out. Now, children will generally undergo hearing tests as part of their general health checkups as they grow to establish that everything is developing properly and to ensure that they aren’t experiencing any issues or difficulties. But hearing tests for adults tends to be a much more grey area. Generally speaking, adults aren’t required to regularly check up on their hearing in the same way that dental checkups are recommended on an annual basis, and eye checks are recommended on a biannual basis. However, if you feel that you may have experienced a change in your auditory health, it is absolutely essential that you book in for a test. Believe it or not, the process of booking in for a hearing check-up is extremely simple. Just search for your nearest service or request a referral from your doctor. There’s nothing to worry about, the tests are simple and generally non-invasive and without pain. During your hearing test, a pure tone audiometry (or a “PTA”) is employed to indicate the quality of your hearing in both ears. This machine will play a variety of sounds at alternate volumes and frequencies (or pitches) for you to listen to. You will be expected to respond to sounds by pressing a button when you hear them. You may also be asked to carry out a speech perception test, which examines your ability to hear words without the aid of any visual information. If your hearing is fine, you will be able to head home in high spirits. But not to worry if the tests do show that you are having problems with your auditory health. They will be passed on to an audiologist who will be able to offer support and assistance in a variety of ways. They will help you to hear better, help you to communicate more effectively, help you to create a better quality of life for yourself, and can also offer help with making your workplace a more productive and comfortable environment for you to work in.

Hopefully, this information will allow you to focus on tackling pain and changes to your senses. But if any other problems arise, you should conduct a little research and make sure to tackle them in the most appropriate way possible too! If you ever feel concerned or lost and don’t know who to contact with regards to health problems, remember that your first stop can always be your general practitioner at your local doctor’s surgery. They will help to refer you on to the most appropriate individual who will be able to give you further treatment and advice.