By Naturopath Jeremy Hill.

How effective are you at managing your health? Do you see a naturopath who gets you to fill out questionnaires, quizzes you on anything and everything, examines you and tests you with a variety of tests to reveal your state of health? Or perhaps you simply have someone who cooks you good meals, puts out your vitamins and nags you if you drink too much alcohol or settle for junk food?

Of course, you have your doctor who may write your scripts, take your blood pressure and send you off for a scattering of blood tests each year. Perhaps you also have a terrific pharmacist, physiotherapist, chiropractor or personal trainer to help you out.

All of these can be terrific resources but, in reality, the most appropriate person to manage your health is probably yourself, and one of the greatest tools you can use for effectively managing your own health is record keeping. Develop your own Personal Health File (PHF) and take this to each of your healthcare appointments and observe the smile of gratitude as the busy practitioner in front of you appreciates what you have done. They will probably want a copy.

There is no comprehensive universal healthcare database linking up all of your medical and para-medical contacts to help your practitioner assess your past, present or future health. This is why at healthcare appointments we are repeatedly asked to fill in forms requesting information ranging from cursory to almost invasive, and as good as your memory might be, there is a strong chance that you won't remember everything. A PHF should contain a copy of every test that you have had, as well as a chronological diary of your medical history, including medications you have been prescribed, by whom, what for, how long you took them and with what result. Detail hospital stays and accidents, injuries or surgical procedures and outline your family medical history including siblings, parents, grandparents. Include your allergies, dietary specifics, vaccination history, and even weight fluctuations, alcohol intake and work and exercise hours.

Medical records may be lost, overlooked, disregarded or misinterpreted. If you haven't visited your practitioner for several years then it is even possible that your records may have been destroyed. These are all good reasons for asking for copies of current and past test results, including blood pressure numbers - don't be shy, they're your records. Even if you can't interpret them someone else will be able to. I find it frustrating when clients don't bring their recent test results, but comment that they have had "everything tested and it was all fine". Everything is never tested and my interpretation of "fine" often differs. Leaving at home supplements and medications and describing them as "small, brownish and oval" is just as unhelpful. An up-to-date PHF would solve these problems in a flash.

Learn about your health as you monitor changes in your test results. Even changes within the realm of a good or normal reading can tell a story. For example, if your fasting blood sugar reading of 4.6 begins to rise slightly by just 0.2 a year, then it might take a good six to eight years before it creeps outside the healthy range and the alarm bell is sounded. By this time insulin resistance might be entrenched, blood pressure elevated, cardiac arterial and renal damage underway and numerous chronic illnesses quietly developing, all requiring time, effort, finances and medication to correct.

Alternatively, a quick glance at your well-ordered PHF records by an astute practitioner, or even yourself, several years earlier might have picked up subtle changes developing and simple intervention might have easily headed off the problems. Keeping a PHF plays a strong preventative role and it can be that easy and that effective.

Include a record of health professionals as you encounter them also to allow others to see who has assessed your health and what treatments were used. This may prevent tests from being unnecessarily redone or medications inappropriately prescribed.

We are complex beings, with numerous important pieces of our individual puzzles. The more pieces you put in place; each test, lifestyle habit, inherited trait, toxin exposure, medication taken, symptom expressed, hypothesis proposed or diagnosis given, the clearer the picture becomes and your complicated puzzle can become your story.

Taking such an active role in your own health care is worth the effort as it can help provide you with better health outcomes. The more clearly you record the details, the higher the likelihood that you will reap the benefits of your attention to detail - or at least it may make fascinating reading in your absence.

It has been said that the secret to longevity is to have a chronic illness and manage it well. I'll settle for the good management without the chronic illness. Who is keeping tabs on your health? I do hope you are from now on.

Good Health,

Jeremy Hill.

Jeremy Hill (Diploma of Natural Therapy) is a Qualified Naturopath.