By: Amy Jones
Not medically reviewed by Erin Stair
In order to ensure that you are taking proper care of your body, you need to try and pay as close attention to it as possible at all times. That can actually be quite a challenge for some people, and it is the kind of thing that people can often get confused about. But the truth is that paying attention to the body is a simple and yet hugely important part of keeping your health intact for as long as possible. If you are keen on doing that, then you are going to want to do this as well as you can.
In particular, it’s vital that you are paying attention to any bodily changes that you experience, especially if they seem to be profound or you don’t know what is causing them. In this post, we are going to take you through a few of the kinds of changes you shouldn’t ignore, and should instead get checked out at your earliest convenience.
Receding Gums
As you age, your gums are bound to naturally recede. This is very much a normal part of getting older. But if you are concerned that your gums might be receding a little too fast, then you might want to get them looked at. In most cases, receding gums are a sign of gum disease, and if left alone this can worsen to the point where the bone density under the teeth eventually becomes less and less. Ultimately, you could end up losing teeth young if you don’t get this sorted, so it’s definitely important to keep an eye on it.
In most cases, the solution will be to simply brush your teeth well, see the hygienist on a frequent basis, and ensure you are generally taking care of the gums. It should pass in time, and if necessary you could always get a gum graft too, to replace the missing gums, if they recede too much.
Morphing Moles
We all know that moles are usually harmless, but if your moles do change rapidly then that is something that you need to keep an eye on. A mole which changes in size or shape too fast, or which is fuzzy around the edge, could be a sign of skin cancer, and if you leave that alone it can be deadly and fatal. So, it’s important to neither get too worked up about moles, nor to ignore them completely, and if you have any that are a little worrisome, go to the dermatologist as soon as you can to get them checked out, just in case. Very often, people don’t take skin cancer seriously enough, and ultimately it means that they end up in a much worse situation than they were before.
Blood In The Wrong Place
As a general rule of thumb, one warning sign you should never ignore is when you have blood somewhere it shouldn’t be. This might mean that you have found blood in your stool, for instance, or in your urine, or even in your ear or eye. If this happens, it is generally a sign of something going wrong, and you should make sure that you seek out the necessary help as soon as possible. You never can tell what it might be, so the only thing to do is to go to the doctor as soon as you can.
As you can see, there are a number of bodily changes that you should pay attention to. As long as you do so, you are more likely to take care of yourself, and more likely to live for longer as well.
Hearing Loss
Some of the bodily changes we go through will happen naturally as we get older, and that is certainly true for hearing loss. Very few people will get to 80 or so without some hearing loss at least. But if you are still young or the hearing loss seems quite pronounced, you should make sure you get it checked out as soon as possible, just to be safe. It might be that you require some assistance such as a hearing aid, or that you just need to start taking better care of your hearing and your ears. Sometimes, it might not be clear that you have hearing loss as it might be quite mild, in which case you should learn more about it and try to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. In any case, it’s an important change.