A health diary will help you keep track of your well-being
So, you've quit smoking, started eating healthy, joined a gym and even learned to smile at those who annoy you. But you can still do more for your well-being. Start maintaining a health diary. Remember how your mother would maintain a record of your vaccinations, height, weight and digestion when you were a child. Each time she’d visit the hospital, the family pediatrician would update that record.

Dr S.K. Aggarwal, a senior internal medicine consultant with Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Delhi, says that we should ideally continue with that record or diary for the rest of our lives. “But adults who dumped their childhood health diaries or records after they entered adolescence or teenage, can start now from scratch,” he suggests.
So what should you jot down in a health diary? “Your medical conditions, illnesses, whether, when and for what were you hospitalised, family history of diseases, allergies to drugs and certain foods,” says Dr Virender Anand, an internal medicine consultant with Moolchand Medcity, Delhi.

If you are in your 20s, you could also write down your childhood vaccinations, adult vaccinations, infections and injuries. A 30-something must note changes to his or her diet plan (since most people modify their diet when they hit 30), giving up of any addiction such as smoking and weight (since people put on weight due to hormonal changes). Those in their 40s should write down the last time they got a health check-up done and whether it included a treadmill test or a chest X-ray.

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