Lab work, screenings and tests may be a hassle, but they can save your life. You’ll notice that your doctor will order some tests during certain periods of your life, while others will be ordered every year. 

Here are the preventive screenings you’ll probably have during your life broken down into two categories by age group. 

According to the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, the preventable health conditions and diseases with the highest cost, if you get them, are:

We often think of prevention from the perspective of youth. If we had started eating healthy in our 20s, if we had built strong exercise habits in our 30s, if we had maintained a healthy weight in our 40s … While we can do a lot of good — or bad — when we’re young, we can still have an impact on our health as we age. Prevention never stops. 

Here are some of things you can do to improve your health and keep chronic illness and other age-related issues at bay. 

Have you ever gotten a stomachache when you’ve been nervous or stressed? It’s that awful queasy feeling that creeps up when you’re facing a deadline, getting ready for a presentation or taking a test. And while these stomachaches usually pass quickly, they show a connection between stress and gut health.

Gut health is garnering a lot of attention, as research continues to show its importance to overall health. Yet, the flood of information online about improving digestive health can make it hard to separate fact from fiction. In this video, MDVIP Chief Medical Officer Dr. Andrea Klemes and award-winning registered dietitian Layne Lieberman dispel five common myths about gut health.

You’re probably aware that processed foods and ultra-processed foods have a bad rap. Regularly eating these foods raise the risk for:

During the summer months, you’ll probably spend more time outdoors and a lot more time around mosquitoes. If you’re one of those people mosquitoes love to target, we have some good news. 

If you’re trying to protect your heart, you probably already know the things you should do: Eat a healthy diet, get plenty of exercise, manage your weight, minimize stress and make sure you’re seeing your doctor regularly.

But other things that can put you at risk for heart disease that you may not even be aware of. Some of them are really unusual, e.g., living near noisy roads, while others, e.g., crinkled earlobes, can help identify people at risk earlier than cholesterol tests or blood pressure screenings.

Of all the things we eat, nothing perhaps does more harm than foods that are awash in sugar, items that come to mind include:

• Cakes
• Cookies
• Sugar-sweetened beverages (like gourmet coffee and sodas)

 But sugar is everywhere — in low-fat yogurt and barbecue sauces, in granola, protein bars and canned soup, in canned fruit, smoothies and even spaghetti sauce and ketchup.

Living longer and healthier isn’t always about exercise and healthy eating. While these things are important and account for a huge part of our health span - the period of our lives we live without chronic conditions and mobility issues -- there are other factors that play a big role too, including our relationships.