Wellness and Preventive Care

Preventive care is a proactive approach to achieving and maintaining peak health and vitality throughout your life. The integrative team at HealthStone Primary Care Partners in Hollywood, Florida, specializes in giving adults the medical care and lifestyle guidance they need to enjoy optimal wellness. If you’re ready to start receiving preventive care, call the office or use the online booking feature today.

What are wellness and preventive care?

Wellness and preventive care share a close connection, but they’re two different concepts:

Wellness

Wellness is an integrative concept determined by your physical, mental, emotional, and social health. Maintaining wellness depends on the daily choices you make and the actions you take.

Preventive care

Preventive care is essential to your wellness as it involves seeking and receiving medical treatments and professional lifestyle recommendations that help you avoid disease and maintain wellness.

What services are part of preventive care?

There’s one service you can’t ignore if you want preventive care services: your annual physical.

Annual physicals provide the information needed to prevent health problems. During your physical, your provider evaluates your overall health, reviews your lifestyle habits, and identifies early signs of health problems.

In addition to a complete physical, your preventive care may include a wide range of services. A few examples include:

• Lab work (blood and urine analysis)
• Women’s health care
• Men’s health care
• Senior care
• Vaccinations
• Health screenings
• In-office electrocardiogram (EKG)
• Mental health assessment
• Nutritional evaluation

Risk assessments are also an essential part of preventive care.

How does a risk assessment support preventive care?

The following risk factors determine your chances of developing a chronic disease:

• Family history of disease
• Personal history of disease
• Your overall physical health
• Your emotional and mental health (including stress)
• Lifestyle habits (diet, exercise, sleep habits)
• Behaviors that affect your health (smoking, alcohol, and drug abuse)
• Exposure to environmental toxins

Your risk factors guide your provider’s recommendations for supporting wellness and preventing disease.

What actions maintain wellness and preventive care?

Each person’s care plan is personalized to meet their unique needs. However, all wellness and preventive plans depend on two primary actions:

Lifestyle modifications

Six key lifestyle modifications can prevent chronic diseases and support wellness:

• Changing your diet
• Getting regular exercise
• Losing weight (or maintaining a healthy weight)
• Reducing stress
• Stopping smoking
• Reducing or stopping alcohol (or drug) use

The same changes are also part of a treatment plan after chronic conditions develop.

Medications

If lifestyle changes can’t restore your health or you already have an advanced disease, your provider prescribes medications to restore optimal health.

If you want to enjoy the longest, healthiest life possible, you need preventive care services. To learn more, call HealthStone Primary Care Partners or book an appointment online today.