Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Healthy Aging
Simple questions that can help you build a healthy body for the future.
Making Health Conversations With Your Doctor Count
We don’t get a lot of time with our doctors these days so it’s important to make the best use of your time in those first few sessions. After all, this is the doctor who’ll take care of you well into your old age, helping you prevent chronic diseases, stay healthy, and live well.
Some doctors have completely redesigned their medical practice to have more time with their patients. But this isn’t the best option for everyone. In this article, I’ll talk about important characteristics your doctor should have if you want to enjoy lasting health and wellness.
1. What disease am I at imminent risk for?
Each and every human body is unique and responds differently to external stimuli. Not all of us will thrive on keto or a vegan diet. And each of us has a unique risk profile.
A competent physician can help you determine your top list of high-risk diseases. We know, for example, that diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and dementia are the most common conditions. But what are you at highest risk for? This will help you choose the right interventions to keep you healthy and prevent chronic disease.
2. What are some early signs of disease?
There will be months between your doctor appointments. It’s good to know what to look for in case they are early signs of a chronic condition.
Signs of inflammation is an important one to look for. Another might be sleep changes, strength or mobility issues, and digestion changes. While the most important step is to recognize these signs, it’s also necessary to know what to do about them.
3. How can I protect my brain against dementia?
What are you doing now that is putting you at risk for a neurodegenerative condition and what important actions can help you slide into old age with a sharp mind and a strong body?
For most the risk of dementia is all about insulin sensitivity in the central nervous system while for others it’s lack of exercise or excess stress.
4. What can I do to prevent cancer?
Cancer is often an unfortunate chance mutation that can take a normal cell and turn it into an unhinged factory making more cells and destroying important structures around it. In most cancers, the signal to stop reproducing is turned off.
And even though it’s often an issue of chance, we can help our body’s immune system better recognize rogue cells and destroy them before cancer cells are formed.
We know insulin and inflammation play important roles in how cells respond to environmental changes. Stress is another important factor to consider.
5. Am I losing too much muscle mass with age?
As we age, our bodies change. The most common changes are shifting of fatty tissue, muscle loss, and skin changes. It seems that muscle loss can have many other negative downstream effects if it’s excessive.
Some muscle loss is quite normal. Many might experience a loss in muscle size without a lot of strength loss. It’s important to know what’s abnormal and what’s considered normal aging.
6. Am I on track to never develop diabetes?
More people are developing diabetes. And though we are also winning on the pharmaceutical front, a medication won’t cure diabetes. Even the best GLP1s will leave a person with diabetes a few decades short of healthy years.
We have many tests that we can do to determine the risk of diabetes in a person. It’s important to know which tests to perform but more importantly which lifestyle changes to encourage in patients.
7. What am I at highest risk for in the next few decades?
Some of my patients are at highest risk of depression, obesity, frailty, cancer, osteoporosis, and dementia. I need to know their imminent risk because we have to focus most of our attention on those conditions.
8. Are my lifestyle changes making a difference?
I want to encourage my health coaching clients when they make meaningful changes in their lifestyles. When they adjust their diet, we can do blood tests to see how their insulin, glucose, and free fatty acid levels are being affected.
While I’m not a big fan of unnecessary testing, when someone is at high risk for a certain medical condition, it’s important to track their progress.
9. How do I prevent heart disease?
Heart disease is broad term we use for heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, and a few other cardiovascular conditions. We know it’s one of the most common diseases in the US and we also know that it’s among the most preventable.
Exercise, nutrition, and stress management are quite important. But for someone it’s simply a biochemical problem that may require cholesterol lowering medications.
10. How is my mental health?
Not leave the best for last, but mental health is easily overlooked and can be as impactful as knowing what your cholesterol and blood pressure numbers are.
Your doctor should help you understand your emotional state, your mental health status, and how your actions and behaviors affect your neurocognition.