8 Must Do Medical Tests for Every 40 Years Old Man

 Medical checkup for a 40-year-old male

The homeostasis processes in your body deteriorate and falter as you become older. The body's defense mechanisms fail to keep up with the load they are supposed to monitor in a variety of disease processes, including hormone imbalances, skin malignancies, prostate enlargement, and heart disease, to mention a few.

In the body, illness processes can start to show up after 40 or 50 years of eating unhealthily, having bad habits, and not exercising.

The good news is that early testing and monitoring can occasionally let you know about bodily imbalances that are frequently linked to chronic disease. You may take control of your health and identify diseases early on when they are simpler to treat with the help of this proactive method.

The screening exams that are suggested for males aged 40 and older will be the main subject of this article.

Tests that Men Over 40 Should Consider

These eight health exams should ideally be a required component of your annual physical if you are a male over the age of 40:

1. Prostate checks

One in 41 men in the United States dies from prostate cancer, which affects roughly 12.5% of men over the course of their lives and accounts for 2.4% of all male deaths.  As a result, it presents a severe health risk to the male population.

The good news is that prostate cancer spreads gradually, and early identification can result in effective therapy. In actuality, the survival rate for prostate cancer in its early stages is relatively high.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA test) and the digital rectal exam (DRE) are the primary prostate cancer screening tests:

With PSA, your blood is examined for prostate-specific antigen levels; if they are high, a DRE is required. PSA levels can be higher for a variety of reasons, including infection, recent sex, trauma, riding a bike or motorcycle, and benign prostate enlargement. Having a high PSA does not automatically indicate that one has prostate cancer.

The next test is a DRE, which involves the doctor feeling the prostate with a gloved finger to check for enlargement, nodules, and additional problems if the PSA level is elevated.

Most males aged 55 to 69 are the target audience for screening, according to the American Urologic Society (AUA).

Men between the ages of 40 and 54 should also be screened if they have any risk factors, such as being of African descent, having a brother or father who has had prostate cancer, having a family history of any other cancers related to prostate cancer, such as ovarian, breast, colorectal, endometrial, or pancreatic cancer, or using 5-alpha reeducates inhibitors.

2. Colonoscopy

In the West specifically, cancer of the colorectal (CRC) is on the rise and is a major cause of disease and death worldwide. The third-most lethal and fourth-most often reported cancer in the world, according to GLOBOCAN 2018 data, is this one.

The death rate from CRC has decreased recently as a result of screening programs, but it is still a problem that needs to be addressed.

The typical American diet (SAD), a sedentary lifestyle, alcohol and cigarette use, obesity, and intake of processed meat are risk factors for CRC.

Luckily, CRC has a modest growth rate and is easily detected with the sophisticated screening methods available today, such as immunological histology screening tests (which look for blood in the stool) and a straightforward screening colonoscopy.

If minor polyps or tumors are discovered during a colonoscopy, they are simple to remove and the disease is halted. If there is a family history of CRC, it is strongly advised to start CRC screening earlier in life.

3. Test your cholesterol

Due to the fact that cholesterol is considered an indicator of the probable disease, cholesterol tests have become a staple of yearly physicals. Even though not everyone with high cholesterol will experience a heart attack or a stroke, these events and metabolic syndrome are strongly linked.

A grouping of five risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease is known as metabolic syndrome.  It consists of:

1. Huge waistline
2. Higher triglycerides
3. Lower HDL levels
4. Increasing blood pressure
5. Fasting blood sugar increase

One or two of these risk factors are common, and metabolic syndrome is the diagnosis when three or more are present. It goes without saying that if you have more of these risk factors, you are at a higher risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and stroke.

4. Tests for blood sugar

Given that it is one of the risk factors for metabolic syndrome, blood sugar testing, and monitoring are crucial for maintaining good health. Only blood sugar testing can inform medical professionals that there might be a problem.

Testing hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), however, is frequently preferable since it reveals the patient's average blood sugar level over the previous three months. If a patient has to use insulin or not can be determined in part by the hemoglobin A1c levels.

An increased hemoglobin A1c can encourage a patient to try to reduce their carbohydrate intake and up their exercise in order to lower this lab value and enhance their general health.

5. ECG

Even in the absence of any heart disease symptoms or signs, yearly electrocardiograms (ECG) can help detect cardiac problems in their earliest stages.

Numerous cardiac problems can be deduced from these tests, which use the ECG to read the electrical impulses of the heart. In fact, ECGs are frequently used to diagnose past heart attacks.

6. Bone density testing

Hip fractures brought on by low bone density are a significant medical issue.

Men with any of the aforementioned risk factors are advised to speak with their doctor and get bone density testing at suggested intervals.

7. Dental checkups

Adults' dental health is a good indicator of their general health and well-being. In affluent Western societies, general dentists have typically recommended six-month dental checkups; however, advice regarding the frequency of exams differs between nations and dental healthcare systems.

Neglecting your dental health can lead to a number of illnesses, including:

1. An infection of the heart's inner lining is called endocarditis.
2. Cardiovascular disease caused by bacteremia (blood bacteria) and elevated inflammation brought on by the periodontal disease
3. Difficulties during pregnancy, which have been associated with low birth weight and early birth
4. Pneumonia is caused by an excess of oral bacteria that enters the lungs.

The dentist will thoroughly examine your oral cavity at every two years' appointments, looking for any indications of oral cancer among other things.

In accordance to the American Cancer Society, there are over 54,000 new cases of the oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer each year, and there are also roughly 11,230 fatalities from these cancers.

8. Eye tests

A vital component of maintaining excellent health is yearly eye exams. Some people believe that the eyes are the window to the soul, yet they can also be signs of chronic illness. The majority of incidents of blindness in the senior population are caused by macular degeneration.

Many chronic eye disorders, many of which lack early symptoms, can be detected in their early stages with routine eye exams. Fortunately, they can be stopped if they are caught early.

One such condition that might cause lifelong blindness by harming the optic nerve is glaucoma. The only site in the human body where blood vessels and nerves can be directly observed is the eye, and it can only be detected with a complete eye examination.

As a result, systemic disorders like hypertension, diabetes, excessive cholesterol, and some neurologic conditions can be diagnosed with the use of an eye exam.

Last but not least, cancer can grow inside the eye, and thorough eye exams are the greatest approach to detecting and diagnosing this condition. Fortunately, complete recovery is frequently possible with early detection.

Other Male Annual Tests after the Age of 40

Considering that a man's testosterone levels start to decline around the age of 35, I examine every man's lab results in my clinic, including those for testosterone, estradiol, DHT and DHEA, fasting insulin, IGF-1, CRP, homocysteine, and vitamin D.

With the use of these tests, I can determine whether the patient has excessive inflammation and whether their hormones are in balance. If the test results are abnormal, my initial course of action is to assess food and lifestyle choices and determine where change can be made.

As a functional medicine specialist with board certification, I frequently try to start with dietary and lifestyle changes before turning to pharmaceuticals. Keep in mind that the body is intelligent and desires to be in a healthy state of equilibrium; it merely requires the proper inputs. Food first is a fundamental tenet of functional medicine.

Why Is Regular Testing Important to Have?

It's important to educate yourself on your health criteria and be aware of where you stand in order to maintain your best possible physical, mental, and emotional health.

Knowing your baseline test results helps you make more informed choices regarding preventative care and may even change the way you live. Many ailments often only manifest themselves after years of sluggish growth inside your body.

In accordance with the US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF), "preventive services, such as screening tests, counseling services, and preventive medicines, are procedures or therapies that your doctor or others provide to prevent diseases before they cause you symptoms or problems."

When an illness is caught early, it has a better chance of not progressing to a fatal or severely disabling stage. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is an old proverb that holds true even today.

How Frequently Should You Get Regular Checkups?

Even if testing, monitoring, and checks cannot completely reduce disease risks, at the very least, yearly checkups are advised.

To increase one's chances of seeing a medical issue early on and give enough time for the proper diagnosis, treatment, and avoidance of any future consequences of such an illness, half-yearly checkups are advised.

Any illness process should be detected early on rather than later, when there may be few or no effective therapies available.

What Lifestyle Modifications Should Men Make After the Age of 40?

Your entire health is greatly influenced by your diet. I advocate a sugar-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free way of life. Just doing that will aid in weight loss, the reduction of inflammation, and the restoration of hormone balance to a more normal level.

I then advise a 90:10 rule once they have followed this diet regularly for 1-2 months. The above-mentioned benefits can be attained by eating that way 90% of the time, which is more doable for most people.

To maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, nutritious dietary choices must go hand in hand with physical activity. I recommend regular exercise to all of my patients. The patient will determine the level of activity.

I suggest walking, jogging, and weightlifting if you're a 45-year-old male who needs to lose a few pounds. You'll be able to lose weight by doing by gaining lean muscle mass, which will take the place of extra fat. Regularly engaging in this form of physical exercise also aids in boosting your metabolism, which is essential to prevent unwarranted weight gain.

It might be a different tale if you're a male 87-year-old. I may suggest getting a few soup cans and using them for simple chair squats and curls while watching TV.

What Diseases Are Men 40 Years of Age More Prone to?

Diabetes, coronary artery disease, metabolic syndrome, several malignancies, hormonal problems, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and several types of autoimmune diseases.

CONCLUSION

You can't work out your way out of a poor diet, so adopting a diet and lifestyle that supports good health is the greatest step to take.

The person might need a wake-up call from an objective analysis using lab results and tests that are unreliable. Additionally, routine exams result in helpful recommendations from medical experts that a person might not otherwise receive.

The greatest time to prevent sickness is before it even begins, and you can frequently achieve this by having a skilled doctor give you the once over twice a year.