Receiving Adequate Preventative Healthcare
Advocate for yourself to gain advice and information.
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Why should we compromise regarding our long-term well-being and maximum life expectancy? Time is our most valuable asset. After reading David Sinclair’s book Lifespan, I wondered whether I could live to 100 and maintain my health. What would I see, and what life would I lead? It made me endlessly fascinated. Earlier that year, I started Googling many of my health problems and figuring out which action to take to find out more or rule out certain issues. It was close to hypochondriac behavior.
This, inspired by dating an MD, made me question whether, in the US, we need to take particular care in advocating for our health and wellness, to catch issues before they become serious, and to age gracefully. That’s why I decided to sign up for Forward and try it out, to see whether they would help me toward my goal of longevity and wellness.
Since joining, I have investigated how to lessen my prediabetes, from seeing an endocrinologist to starting a medically supervised lifestyle change program from a psychological base. Then, I focused on reducing stress and anxiety in various ways, including therapy, a positive life outlook, a solution-oriented mindset, and an action plan using cognitive behavioral therapy. With constant support from the Forward team to better understand the medical side of my daily symptoms and whether it was necessary to take immediate action, patterns began to emerge. Now, I have an appointment with a rheumatologist to identify whether I have early auto-immune symptoms that could get worse in the future if there is no intervention, and using a genetic analysis, it became clear which risk factors are embedded in my DNA and which lifestyle changes to focus on immediately to counter them.
Along the way, I have been avidly reading about life philosophy, including books like Finding Your Own North Star and Feeling Good, to identify further where the mind-body connection had been severed in the past and where internal miscommunication might have led to certain psychosomatic illnesses including autoimmune problems. I am going through this with a holistic perspective, always gathering more information and learning along the way while gathering as much knowledge and advice as I can from the clinicians at Forward. I envision using this relationship to orient myself and develop a strong mindset toward preventative health, maintaining good health, and aging.
Aimee Sparrow is an author, applied philosopher, and mathematician who has been living with a mood disorder for more than a decade and advocates for happiness and inner peace. She is the author of Lunacy. Follow her website for more details.
