The Importance of a Head to Toe MOT*

As you get older, looking after your health becomes a bigger priority. Keeping an eye on both your physical and mental health is vital if you want to live a long life. But with the current pressure on our NHS, you don’t want to be visiting the doctor every time you have a slight ache or sniffle, and this is why it’s important to do your own head to toe MOT.

Day Lewis Pharmacy’s latest campaign talks about fantastic ways to help you start getting into a routine of checking your body and giving yourself an all-important MOT. Learning how your body feels from day to day, will make it easier to recognise any big changes in which you would need to get in touch with your local GP about. What might be normal for you, might not be normal for anyone else but until you start regularly checking, you won’t know what is your own normal.

My father was diagnosed with MND at Christmas, for a long time we put a lot of his symptoms down to age and the job he was doing. It wasn’t until he started to struggle to move his legs that he felt there was something seriously amiss, especially as he’s been an avid walker since the pandemic. After receiving his diagnosis, a lot of symptoms he’d dismissed turned out to be red flags for MND.

While there is no cure for MND and my father is now on a path without a happy ending, it has definitely given my mother, partner, sister, and me food for thought when it comes to the importance of looking at our own bodies. While every twinge doesn’t mean we rush out to the doctor, we’re being more mindful of our mental and physical health.

When it comes to physical health it’s important to get into a routine of checking yourself for any suspicious lumps and bumps. Remember though, as you get older your body may feel a bit more bumpy and this is why it’s important to keep in mind what is normal for you. Check your skin for any changes if you have had a pain that has got progressively worse or lasted for longer than 3 weeks, it may be time to speak to someone. And by that, I don’t mean Google! Remember not everything is worse case, hormones, stress, weight and lifestyle can play a part in how you physically feel.

As for mental health, struggling with how you feel mentally can also be detrimental to how you physically feel. If you feel like you’re not quite on top with how you feel mentally, there is absolutely no shame in getting help for this. We have all lived through a pandemic, it’s natural to have more anxieties and worries than you used to have. Add in a cost of living crisis, and it’s natural not to feel on top of your game!

Once you start incorporating a monthly MOT into you life along with exercising, drinking water, wearing sunscreen and eating well, you can have the peace of mind you’re doing everything right for you physical and mental well-being! And if anything does go wrong, you know there are a range of services at your fingertips to help you heal and get back on track!