Health is wealth’ is an age-old adage which holds true even today. Barring exceptions, only a physically and mentally fit person can work hard to fulfil responsibilities and achieve success.

The busy urban life style leaves little time for people to have a regular healthy lifestyle which involves proper meals, sleep time and exercise. Persons working in offices are most affected as they have to stick to a fixed schedule of work. Commuting long distances to work in big cities and having targets and deadlines to meet, creates stress, which affects their health further.

 It is vital for a person to be able to monitor his or her health, in spite of a busy schedule. This is simple. The only thing needed is that one should be aware of some tell-tale signs that indicate health problems.

 ‘Run down’, or, ‘not so well’, is what everyone feels when sick. Headaches, body ache, running nose, nausea, vomiting, and etcetera, are some symptoms that suggest   sickness. But apart from these, there are subtle signs that can help one detect sickness at the earliest point.

One should always keep track of their pulse. It is felt by keeping a finger lightly below the junction of the wrist and forearm. Normally there are 60 to 90 beats felt per minute, when one is relaxed. If the pulse is faster than this, the person is either stressed or sick. It usually announces the onset of a fever too.

Standing in front of a mirror, a person can check the colour of the inner side of the lower eye lid. If the colour is pale and not red, it signifies anaemia, that is, a state of deficiency of haemoglobin (a component of the red blood cells that carries oxygen to the body’s tissues). This is more important for women as they are more prone to anaemia for multiple reasons.  Yellow discolouration of the normally white portion of the eye is suggestive of deranged function of the liver.

If there is a urinary tract infection, one can develop swelling over the face, more so, in the morning.  In kidney and urinary tract infections, the affected person can also have swelling of the feet.  Swelling over the face in the morning, with hard brittle hair, falling of hair should alert one to protein deficiency. But if an individual starts getting swelling over the feet occurring in the evening or after walking, he/she should get screened for high blood pressure and heart related problems.

Regular monitoring of weight also helps to determine the health status of a person. Gain in weight should alert the person to keep it under control. Unexplained loss of weight is highly suggestive of diabetes mellitus or hyperthyroidism. If the weight loss is associated with persistent intractable pain in some body part, cancer is a strong possibility.

Another thing which one can monitor is the colour of urine. The urine of a healthy person is clear or mildly pale in colour. Dark coloured urine indicates that hydration of the body is affected. This happens due to hydration of the body being affected which mostly occurs due to a lot of work, with or without stress, and or drinking less water. Once one notices dark coloured urine, they should increase the amount of water and other fluids consumed.  Due to deranged liver function, one can have dark yellow coloured urine.

Just by being aware of these subtle changes in the body, earliest signs of any sickness can be detected and it can be checked before anyone falls sick.

Dr Rachna Pande,

Specialist, internal medicine

rachna212002@yahoo.co.uk