Essential health screenings: Everyone over the age of 40 should consider

Turning 40 is among many pivotal moments in life. The transition can be marked by milestone career achievements and a refinement of overall maturity, which molds the priority we apply to the diversity of items in our daily attention spans.

- DR. RAJAT CHAND

Especially for high-achieving individuals, graduation into this decade marks entering a phase of susceptibility. Though our bodies remain quite capable from a physical standpoint, psychosomatic pressures from everyday stress can take advantage of early wear and tear and ultimately reinforce poor lifestyle choices and their physiologic sequelae. Our minds can be usurped from making effortful decisions toward positive health habits, as well as devoting attention toward making and coordinating doctor visits. Lack of knowledge of potentially serious health conditions helps drive the vicious cycle. The stage is then set for disease manifestation before age 50. The following is a breakdown of the essential checks recommended for everyone over 40, men and women alike.

1. START WITH CHECKING THE MIND Essentially all acquired diseases in life can be linked to the stress we face in life. Though many prominent ailments including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, autoimmune disease, and cancer have underlying genetic implications, it is often our physiological response to additive amounts of psychological stress and the ensuing autonomic dysregulation, inflammation and immunosuppression that allow disease manifestation to occur.