New Year, Strict Fitness Routine? Doctors Suggest Basic Health Tests Before That

Here are some things doctors want you to keep in mind before you jump-start your new year health resolutions.

Is your New Year resolution also to work towards being fitter and healthier by the end of this year?

Here are some things doctors want you to keep in mind before you jump to get rid of all your favourite snacks or get a gym membership.

Dr Tarun Sahani, Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine, Apollo Hospitals, Delhi, and Dr RVS Bhalla, Director, Internal Medicine, Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad, give pointers to FIT.

Get Your Health Check Ups Done

Before you set up a health regimen for yourself, you need to know where your body stands, be it in terms of cholesterol, sugar, or kidney functions.

This is especially important for people above the age of 45 and those who might have diabetes, heart diseases, hypertension, other age-related problems, or are smokers. Get your ECG, Treadmill test (TMT), and Echo done.

If you're diagnosed with some illness, you need to regularly follow up with your doctor. Otherwise, preventive health check-ups are more than enough.

Plan A Sustainable Health Regimen

Setting up a regime of diet and exercise that you can sustain is of paramount importance. If you keep quitting mid-way, it’ll be harder for your body to start from scratch every time you decide to give it another try.

Sustainability needs to be taken into account. You can’t starve yourself for six months, lose 10 kgs of weight, and then suddenly quit.

Exercise In An Exponential Manner

Start slow, gradually go up, and reach a level that can be sustained. Increase your pace as your body adjusts to the intensity of exercises.

Don’t push your body more than its required to, if you can manage to go to the gym only three days a week, do that. There’s no need to do seven days a week. And don't spend too much time in the gym as well, you'll tire yourself out. 40-45 minutes is the suggested time duration for exercising by doctors.

Other small but important thing to remember include:

• Warming up and cooling down is important

• Wear loose-fitted clothing

• Don't go into a cold area right after exercising

• Maintain hydration

• Those with cardiac issues should not exercise after meals

• Don't exercise on a totally empty stomach (morning exercises can be an exception, but some sort of protein intake beforehand is still recommended)

Balanced Diet Is Key

Focus on a balanced diet and nutritional meals. Don’t starve yourself. Occasionally binging is also okay. 

Take Any Illness Seriously

If you have an illness, give it importance and treat it adequately. If there's one thing that COVID-19 has taught us, it's that you don't 'just wing' your health concerns.

Identify Your Stress Busters

A kid, a job, and sometimes even grocery shopping is stressful. Recognise what helps you relax and make time for that.

Stress is a part of life but don’t allow it to overcome your entire life.