The holiday season is approaching and it's likely that you will be sharing many meals with your extended family. These gatherings are a great time to share family histories -- as well as your Aunt Martha's famous pie!
When you fill out health history information for your doctor, you typically are asked if not only you, but also any member of your family suffers from a condition or disease. Knowing your family's health history is very important; in fact, it is so important that the U.S. Surgeon General has declared Thanksgiving Day as "National Family History Day." Are you one of the two-thirds of Americans who have never attempted to discover your family's health history? Well, don't let this opportunity pass you by this year!
If you are wondering where to start, you can visit "My Family Health Portrait" online at https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/fhh-web/home.action, where you will find very useful tools for recording and organizing your family's data.
Families share the same genes, environments, lifestyles, and behaviors -- all of which can affect the likelihood of developing health problems. If you have a close relative that suffers from a chronic health condition, you are more likely to suffer that same condition than someone without an affected relative. Knowing your family's health history allows your doctor to be better able to provide appropriate screening or counseling to help prevent further problems later in life. For instance, if heart disease runs in your family at an early age, you would benefit from an earlier cholesterol screening.
Are you ready to learn about your family? Make sure you follow these guidelines:
- Talk to your family
- Ask questions
- Record the information
- Share with your doctor
So take the time this holiday season and talk to your family. Then be sure that the next time you visit Jacques Dentistry or any of your other doctors in Greenville, SC, you update us on what you have learned.
Happy National Family History Day from all of us at Jacques Dentistry! :)
